Black and White
by 5th Dimension
Summary: Honoka, the scientist. Nagisa, the sports ace. Putting these two together was either a stroke of genius or a symptom of insanity. A reorganization of the story in which Honoka is smarter and less pleasant, Nagisa is more sarcastic and heroic, and the villains repeat themselves a lot less.
1. Chapter 1

The two were as different as could possibly be.

Nagisa Misumi was a girl who ran the show for the Verone lacrosse team. Her dexterity was greatly admired, her speed unmatched. She was confident in her body and followed her heart, always leading her teammates to victory.

Honoka Yukishiro was a girl who headed the Verone science club. She had everything down to a science, could manage anything rationally and with a clear head. Greatly admired for her cleverness and beauty, she was the engine behind new and successful experiments.

Making them a team was either a stroke of brilliance or a symptom of insanity.

* * *

Shiho and Rina ran up to their friend. "Hey Nagisa!"

Nagisa smiled. "Hello!" Her eyes followed Shiho, who usually directed their conversations.

Shiho did not disappoint. "Hey, did you see the shooting stars?"

Rina quickly nodded, leaving Nagisa surprised. "When did this happen?"

Shiho continued, wide-eyed and cheerful. "There's been a ton of them recently! I had so many wishes that I'm sure to get a good job, a good husband, and live happily ever after!" Rina snorted, and Nagisa couldn't help but laugh a little as well. Shiho always went on about her plans for a perfect life, which often 'planned' for her to be lucky.

"Aren't they actually supposed to be bad omens?" Rina asked as the designated pessimist of the group.

"Don't worry. Bad omens aren't real."

The three stopped walking. The voice had come from near the lockers ahead, from a blue-haired girl. Nagisa rolled her eyes. _Must be dyed._

Rina stepped forwards. "What do you mean, Honoka?"

'Honoka' turned all the way towards them, smiling brilliantly. "Shooting stars are simply meteors that fall to the ground. When they enter the atmosphere, they burn, leaving trails behind. There's nothing lucky or unlucky about burning space rocks, and they don't grant any wishes."

While Shiho occupied herself by being sad at not getting wishes granted, Nagisa was taken aback. _We started this conversation like five seconds ago outside. How did she hear us? Who is she?_

The blue-hair girl turned and left with a short, "Well, see you!"

Nagisa turned to Rina. "Who was she? What was that all about?"

Rina shrugged. "She and you were in different classes last semester, so I'm not surprised you haven't heard. Honoka was given the name 'The Queen of Knowledge.' She seems to know everything, and has corrected a few people like that."

Nagisa made a face. "Sounds like she was picking on us, then."

Shiho perked up. "No, no! I heard she's really nice! She's popular with boys and the kendo club president even confessed to her!"

"Like that has anything to do with anything _._ " Nagisa turned to Rina as the older girl shoved her playfully. "What?"

"She's popular with boys. You're popular with the girls. Perhaps you two should get together," Rina said, mischief in her eyes.

"Oh shut up."

* * *

Honoka sat limply in class, bored. The teacher was going on and on about algebra, something she had mastered maybe three grades ago. It was ridiculous that she was restricted to classes based on age, despite her exemplary work in all subjects except physical education and history, and who cares about those, anyways?

The teacher wrote an equation on the board. _X-7=19+X_

Honoka rolled her eyes, instantly noting the impossibility it in her head. _Zero cannot equal twenty-six._ Despite that, the teacher was calling on someone. "Nagisa!"

Nagisa shot up immediately. "Yes!" _Let it not be said that the lacrosse captain wasn't enthusiastic._

The teacher pointed at the board. "Solve this, please."

That was it. Honoka had to do something. It wasn't that she enjoyed calling people out, not really. It wasn't that she enjoyed showcasing how smart she was. It wasn't that she really gained anything from this encounter either. Sociology was a science as well; she fully understood that calling the teacher out would call his authority in math into doubt, and that he would be more likely to poorly grade her in the future. No, there was only one reason she spoke up then.

Someone was Wrong. The Wrong must be corrected.

She stood up slowly as the teacher dug a deeper hole for himself by saying that Nagisa should be able to solve it. It was not possible! Her mechanical mind felt inflamed as it simulated the possible conversations she might have and fed her the least risky dialogue. "Teacher, the problem is unsolvable."

The teacher blinked, and then made the obvious response, an attempt to save face. "Are you saying it's too hard for Nagisa?"

"No. It results in zero equaling twenty-six. The equation is literally unsolvable because it has an impossible result." _Which should be obvious to a math teacher._

The teacher was not as clever as her. _She_ would have responded with, "Good job on catching the trick question." Instead, the teacher simply stared at her as the class as a whole frowned at his mistake. Now it was time to make sure he at least tried to catch his mistakes from now on. "If it were nineteen _minus_ X, then the equation would be possible."

The teacher gaped at the board, then his book, then the board again. She had pointed out a mistake, corrected it, and had not done it disrespectfully. Though he would be mad at her (no human alive likes to be Wrong), he could not take it out on her directly in front of these witnesses. The only option open to him was the one he took. "Er… you're right. I'll be more careful from now on."

Conversation finished. As usual, her mental simulations matched reality perfectly. It only made sense. Her grasp of reality was near-perfect and getting better all the time.

* * *

After class, Honoka had barely left before she felt her sleeve grabbed. "Yes?"

It was Nagisa. This was a direct result of the previous class, wasn't it? She mentally simulated the conversation as Nagisa spoke. "Thank you very much… for that."

 _Perhaps I can go the fastest route?_ Not that she had anything against the lacrosse captain, but she didn't have anything in common with her either. "It was my pleasure," she said, smiling and turning away.

Nagisa ran to walk alongside her. "No, seriously. I would've never caught what you did."

 _Nope._ "I am glad that you benefited from my words. I only wished to fix the problem."

Nagisa's face showed annoyance. "Is that so? I heard from my friends that you really like correcting people."

Honoka stopped and turned to the other girl. This would require a direct, yet soft touch. Nagisa seemed emotionally-driven, but as annoying as that was, Honoka could still handle it. "I don't like it. I just think it's better that people know the truth than to pretend lies are fine."

Nagisa seemed to accept that. "Well then… I guess… thanks again."

Honoka smiled genuinely this time. It was nice to hear someone thank her for the real reasons behind her actions. "You're welcome."

* * *

Nagisa tossed her bag and lacrosse stick onto her table and threw herself on her bed. It had been a long day filled with sports, sleeping in classes, and boy-chat. This was not to mention the love letters she found in her locker. She pulled them out of her pocket. "Getting love letters from girls… eh. What should I do with them? Won't read them, I don't swing that way. Shouldn't toss them, the precious feelings of a young girl are in each…" She broke off, giggling and setting them aside.

"How on earth did Honoka get so popular with boys? It's not like she's… pretty, and smart, and nice-ish, and doesn't sleep in class, and okay, she's pretty cool. Let's see, I want to be popular with boys, and get all the girls. Maybe she wants to be popular with girls, and gets all the boys? Maybe we could trade letters. Wow Nagisa, quit fooling yourself."

A flash came from her window. She got up, seeing streaks of light beginning to fall through the sky. "Shooting stars?" She opened the window and for a few seconds, she simply watched until it occurred to her that she should wish for something. "But Honoka said that… no, screw Honoka. Miss Knowledge Queen can keep her bad luck to herself. I wish for a great boyfriend… and slim legs… and a lot of money… and lots of clothes… and cake! How could I forget about cake! Chocolate cake… Oh, and… hm?"

A small yellow dot looked like it had stopped falling. As Nagisa peered at it, she slowly realized that it hadn't stopped. It was getting bigger, which meant that it was falling towards her! She stumbled backwards, but couldn't avoid getting hit in the head by the object, which ricocheted around her room before bursting apart. "Ow! What the…?"

She rubbed her head and leaned forwards. It appeared to be a cell phone in a pile of playing cards. Cautiously, she touched it, but the phone wasn't even hot. "Uh… phone?" The phone sprang up in a flash of light, causing her to stumble back into a wall. It then spoke.

"MEPOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

She grabbed her lacrosse stick, pointing it like a sword towards the offending object, which spoke again. "Who are you-mepo?"

Nagisa was not prepared for this whatsoever. "What… the… spoon?" She could see that what was speaking was a little animal face on the inside of the phone. "How… what? Huh. Huh?"

"You're a girl-mepo?"

Yes. That was certainly true. "Yeah…? What are you?"

"Why, I'm in your care-mepo!"

"What."

* * *

Honoka walked into her yard, wondering where her dog was, since he usually came to meet her. "Chuutaro?"

The dog bounded up, then ran away, clearly leading her along with behavior she recognized from her books on dogs. She ran after him, watching as he paused and turned to look at her occasionally, leading her to the storage shed. She would tell her grandma she was home soon, but first she was going to check to see if Chuutaro had left some sort of dead animal for her to find.

She opened the door, noting the cobwebs, dust, and bizarre glowing box. Wait, what? She walked over to it. _Perhaps something electronic?_ She pulled the string off and opened it, finding a cell phone and a deck of cards. And, as far as she knew, a glow that came from the box itself. _Maybe some sort of chemical? And what are these things? Pieces of a game of some sort?_

* * *

"Hey girl, take me to Mipple, Princess of Hope-mepo!"

"I don't know who that is."

"Don't worry, I can lead you-mepo!"

"Hold on. A cell phone falls from the sky, spits playing cards all over, keeps saying mepo mepo for some reason, and now wants to talk to a princess. The only reason I'm not freaking out is because I'm not sure if I'm dreaming. So why should I do what you say?"

The thing started crying pitifully. "Please! Please take me! I have no one else-mepo!"

"So… it's follow the hallucination's instructions, or listen to it whine. Okay, Nagisa, just make sure to stop before it starts telling you to kill people."

* * *

Nagisa was questioning her sanity as the creature carried on her lacrosse stick gave her frequent orders. It made her climb into people's yards, it reversed directions a few times, and the only thing she could think of was _I'm sorry mom and dad. Your daughter's crazy now._

"So… who are you?"

"I'm Mepple, Chosen Hero of the Garden of Light-mepo!"

Her headache intensified. "A cell phone is a hero."

"I'm not a cell phone! What is a cell phone? Never mind! Straight again here-mepo!" Nagisa frowned as she entered a building, though it quickly turned to a grin as she stumbled on some people cooking food. "You need to defend the Garden of Light from the Dark Zone-mepo!"

"Uh-huh." She exited the building reluctantly, finding in front of her a straight path to an amusement park. "Are we there yet?"

"A little further! I'm sure it's there-mepo! Hurry-mepo!"

She ran into the park. "You're sure? How much further?"

"Wait-mepo. That's not Mipple-mepo."

"What? We ran all this way, and not to the princess? Why'd you have me do all that then? Oh, right, hallucinations don't have to make sen-"

"This is the end of the road for you, young lady." She stopped, catching her breath, and stared. In front of her was the most ridiculous-looking man she'd ever seen. She took in his poofy hair, leather pants, and what appeared to be shoulder-pads. "I've been looking for you."

She started laughing. "Okay, did Ryouta slip something into my food?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "I am called Pissard. I came to take that from you," he said, gesturing at Mepple.

"Run-mepo!"

Nagisa looked at the overly-dressed man, remembering Mepple's words about defending the something or another of something. Did that mean, according to what seemed less and less a hallucination, that this was an enemy? Eh, whatever. She was told to run, and that was something she was good at. She sprinted in the opposite direction, only to run into Pissard again, almost bouncing off of him. "Don't give me trouble," he growled, reaching for her shoulder.

She nearly tripped over her feet backing up, then pulled Mepple out of her stick and whacked Pissard with it. The man grunted, and they both backed up a few steps. She apparently couldn't run, but she had a stick and he seemed to be willing to be hit with it.

"Nagisa?!" Nagisa moved her eyes away from Pissard. _What's Honoka doing here? Is that a cell phone? Oh, great. Just great._

* * *

Honoka's day had taken a turn for the surreal. Obviously, her previous mental model of reality wasn't complete. She had multiple hypothesizes. One, this was some sort of fantasy game given to her because she was an exceptional student (why else give her what seemed like expensive technology). Two, this Princess of Hope, Mipple, was an alien. Plausible, if seemingly ridiculous from a logistical standpoint. Three… wait, what in the world was Nagisa doing here? "Nagisa?!"

Honoka took in the situation quickly. Nagisa had an alien phone. She was fending off a geisha clown. And Mipple was shouting, "Mepple! We must save him-mipo!" Remembering her conversation with the Princess, that would suggest that this clown was an enemy of the Garden of Light, whatever that was.

Pissard laughed. "Well, well! The other shows up as well! Hand it over," he said, reaching out his hand.

Mipple went hysterical. "No, Honoka! Don't let him get me-mipo!"

No duh. Honoka took a step back as Nagisa rammed her lacrosse stick into Pissard's hand. "Careful Honoka! He's really fast!"

 _Enemy attribute: fast? Unobserved, suggests multiple possibilities. Lack of real threat either suggests he does not wish to harm bystanders (ridiculous), doesn't have the brains to realize he should be using speed to beat us up, has non-obvious limitations, and/or has something else to use. Implausible that enemy could be that stupid. Limitations hypothesis is likely, but Nagisa isn't tired, suggesting battle has not gone on that long and that the enemy probably isn't exhausted. Fourth hypothesis most likely._

With that in mind, Honoka grabbed Nagisa's shoulder. "Hold up. Stay together. I think he's going to try something."

Sure enough, Pissard dramatically raised his hands. "I am done toying with you!" His cloak billowed in a non-existent wind, and random park objects rose off the ground.

It was at this moment that something deep inside of Honoka broke. Her nigh-perfect grasp of reality fell apart. The problem was not that she believed herself insane. The problem was that she was far _too_ sane. Telekinesis violated several fundamental principles that she had based her model of reality on, and her mind ground out an answer she was not prepared for: _He is using telekinesis. But that is impossible. But it is not impossible. Therefore he is using telekinesis._ She was far too sane for this. That could only mean that reality itself had gone insane. What was she supposed to do if physics broke?

She was saved by Nagisa, shoving her out of the way of an incoming bench. "Oy! Queen of Knowledge! Get out of the way!"

The two of them scrambled as a fire hydrant, a trash can, and a metal pole flew down, missing them by inches each time. Honoka glared at their situation, finding no solutions and getting more and more frustrated at the violation of physics. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"You must transform-mepo! Take out the Pretty Cure cards and swipe the Queen-mepo!"

It was all Honoka could do to prevent herself from knocking Mepple out of Nagisa's hand for this new nonsense. Before she could react, though, Nagisa pulled out a bunch of cards. Grumbling to herself, Honoka did the same, pulling out one labeled "Queen" and swiping it in Mipple's card slot.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by rainbows. The two grabbed each other's hand, holding their other hands towards the sky. "Dual Aurora Wave!"

There was a moment where nothing happened, where Nagisa blinked repeatedly and Honoka couldn't help but ask, "What did I just say?" Then the rainbows flooded around them, warping their clothes into frilly shapes and putting Mepple, Mipple, and the cards into little pouches.

In a flash, the two were no longer covered in colors, and Nagisa was saying with a confident voice, "Emissary of Light, Cure Black!"

Disturbingly lacking control of her body, Honoka couldn't help but say, "Emissary of Light, Cure White!"

"We are Pretty Cure!"

"Servant of the Dark Power…"

"Return to the Darkness from which you came!"

The three combatants awkwardly looked at each other for a moment. Nagisa was the first to make a sound. "What…"

Pissard crossed his arms dramatically. "I'm afraid I cannot do that." He was suddenly in front of them, swinging his fist.

Honoka jumped back, then nearly screamed as she went flying. Despite careening wildly, she managed to land perfectly on top of a carousel. She looked down at her legs, eyes widening. "Okay, you know what? Fine! Screw physics! That was amazing!"

Nagisa had landed to her left, seeming concerned. "But what was that?"

Mepple spoke up again. "This is the power of Pretty Cure-mepo!"

Honoka's decision to screw physics (for now) had opened up new lines of thought. _We are Pretty Cure. Pretty Cure has superpowers. It's mind-matter interfacing like telekinesis, except it applies to our bodies and is unconscious, like instructions were burned into our brains. Most importantly: if that jump is any indication, we are now strong enough to defend ourselves in hand-to-hand combat._ "Nagisa! Let's attack!"

"Are you crazy?!"

Pissard took that moment to leap onto the roof and kick at the girls. Honoka dodged and countered, punching him in the stomach. He grabbed her and flung her off the roof, but her new grace allowed her to land without any damage. _This is more than amazing. I'll have to test my limits later._

Nagisa took her turn, blocking a punch and kicking Pissard's legs. The man tumbled off the roof and into a teacup ride. "Damn brats! Raging spirits of heaven, Zakenna! Heart of Darkness, make them understand the horror of the Dark Power!"

Black clouds from nowhere seemed to flow down into a roller coaster, animating it with vile intent. It rose from the tracks, growing claws and teeth, shouting its name for them to hear. "ZAKENNA!"

Honoka took a glance at Nagisa, who wore the same expression Honoka had, one that said, _sure, why not have possessed roller coasters?_ Honoka jumped back up onto the carousel, admiring the effortlessness of it. "Any advice to defeat that, Mepple?" _Best to ask the one who knows what we're supposed to be doing._

"You should-"

Nagisa pushed her out of the way as the Zakenna shot laser beams out of its eyes, destroying the carousel. It quickly blasted at them again, but Honoka's new reflexes helped her to avoid getting struck. _Light moves instantly in a straight line. Why doesn't it just stare at us until we die instead of turning it off and on and looking away?_ She didn't find out as it shot spinning spiked wheels at her. She prepared to dodge, but Nagisa showed up and hit the projectiles away. "You okay?"

"I was doing fine!" She noted her frustration and that it was not rational, but she didn't really care at the moment. She had been enjoying her newfound ability to do gymnastics and Nagisa had interrupted her.

"You keep zoning out, how am I supposed to know when you are and aren't fine?"

Trying to keep a lid on her annoyance, she tried Mepple again. "Advice, defeat, now!"

"Hold hands-mepo!"

Nagisa glanced incredulously at her waist. "What? Really? Your advice is to hold hands? Hey!" Honoka had grabbed her hand.

"Reject reality later! Mipple and Mepple are the only ones who know what they're-"

"BLACK THUNDEEEEER!"

"WHITE THUNDEEEEER!" _Kill me now._

Black and white lightning fell slowly down and struck their outstretched palms. _That's lightning, not thunder! And lightning should be instantaneous! Our powers are Wrong!_

"Our beautiful souls…"

"…shall crush your evil heart!"

"Pretty Cure Marble Screeeeeeew!"

Surprisingly, despite the enormous blast that resulted, the only effect it had was that the roller coaster was returned to its proper place and depossessed as the Zakenna exploded into purple stars that ran away, repeating "sorry, sorry" over and over. Pissard was nowhere to be seen, but Honoka wasn't surprised given what they had just done.

Nagisa was, though. "Where did he go?"

Honoka resisted the urge to whack her. "Nagisa. We just violated the law of conservation of energy so far as I can tell, and you want to know where the clown went?" Seriously, priorities.

Nagisa crossed her arms. "That Pissard guy tried to attack us. He might still be around."

"He's not still around-mipo!" Mipple jumped out of Honoka's pouch.

"Mipple!" Mepple jumped out as well.

"Mepple!"

The two suddenly turned into stuffed animals in a puff of smoke.

"Honoka, this isn't a hallucination, is it?"

"I would be happier if it was."

* * *

Pissard sailed through the air. _Those girls had enormous power. It's greater than anything I've noticed from any other individual in the Garden of Rainbows. They were not intimidated. What did those of the Garden of Light do to them?_

* * *

"You've been given the power of Pretty Cure-mepo!"

"But that doesn't actually mean anything to me! What kind of power is it? Where does it come from? Why didn't we have control of ourselves at times? And where did my white dress go?" Honoka asked, realizing for the first time that her clothes were back to normal.

Taken aback, Mepple held his hands up. "Um… I don't know-mepo? You're the Emissaries of Light…"

Mipple stepped forwards. "You untransform when you're no longer focusing the power of Light-mipo."

Nagisa smiled. "So if we just kept focusing…"

Honoka finished the thought. "Then we could keep using it as long as we wanted. Will using the Queen cards transform us again?"

"There's no one to fight, though. Why would you want to transform-mepo?" Mepple wondered.

Nagisa and Honoka looked at each other, and Nagisa answered. "Because that was amazing. I've never felt so in tune with my body, much less someone else's."

Honoka frowned. "That sounded wrong, Nagisa. Anyways, I want to test the limits, see how it works."

"Mipo!" Mipple said angrily. "We have to use these powers to defeat Darkness-mipo! The power of Light is not something to play with-mipo!"

"Really? Is it finite? Will it run out if we keep using it?" Honoka asked.

"No-mipo. But-"

Nagisa held up her hand. "Don't worry. We'll help you out. You gave us these amazing powers, it's the least we could do to use them to help you. Right, Knowledge Queen?"

Honoka sighed. "Well, if that's the condition…"

"See? We'll defeat Darkness. We just want to use it for other things sometimes."

Mipple noticeably relaxed. "I guess that's okay-mipo."

"How are you going to make sure that you're not noticed-mepo?"

Honoka shrugged. "Why would that matter? I was going to tell people anyways."

"What? No! We have to keep it a secret!" Nagisa protested.

"Why? We're jumping onto buildings, beating up monsters, and shooting magical yin-yang beams that make a lot of light and sound. You think no one will notice? I mean, look, the carousel's still broken. Don't you think it'd be wrong of us not to tell someone?"

Nagisa turned to the structure that the Zakenna broke. "Yes, but I don't want to scare people."

"It may be unavoidable."

"In that case, how's this. _If_ someone notices us, _then_ we tell them. Otherwise, we let people live without having to know about roller coaster ghosts."

Honoka considered this. They were facing two rather enormous problems. The first was that they didn't know much about their powers, and she at least didn't have practice with moving around so much. She didn't know how strong they were comparatively in this new magical part of physics that she had stumbled upon and they were amateurs at the moment. The second was that they didn't know anything about their enemies. If their opponents were the sort to turn up at any time for any reason, then it would make little difference to them whether or not someone else saw. She made a note to ask Mipple, who seemed the more sensible of the pair, later. For now she would compromise with the illogically driven lacrosse player, since she was forced to be in a team with her. "Okay. That works. We'll stay untransformed around anyone who doesn't know."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow at school. It's getting late."

"Very well. Goodnight."


	2. Chapter 2

Nagisa sat uncomfortably in class as the class representative election took place. Honoka was glaring at her, and the redhead wasn't sure why. Though Nagisa could honestly say that she didn't _like_ Honoka, she hadn't done anything to make Honoka mad. The blue-haired girl had seemed fine with that Pretty Cure business yesterday. What _was_ her problem?

"And another vote for Nagisa," Miss Yoshimi, their homeroom teacher concluded. "All done. Nagisa has been elected the representative for the second year sakura class."

Nagisa stood up quickly. _Me? Why not Miss Knowledge Queen? I'm sure she'd have loved to do all this boring smart-person junk._ The classmates around her clapped, and she put on a smile. In a reserved voice, she said, "Thanks, I'll do my best."

A quick look around the room told her that Honoka's glare had only become more intense.

* * *

Nagisa stood, reading a Japanese grammar book. "My dog is like flowers. When I see him, it reminds me of flowers."

From her waist came a noise. "Hey, hey!"

Nagisa didn't skip a beat. "And then my dog said, hey, hey!"

The class started giggling while Miss Yoshimi was confused. "Nagisa, why did you just say that?"

Nagisa coughed. "I, it's…"

Mepple spoke up again. "Hey, hey, hey!"

Helpless, she looked around the room, noting many smiles, but especially taking note of Honoka's smug, but still angry face. _What am I supposed to do about this?_

There were many things she could've done then, certainly much more graceful or less attention-calling. Instead of those things, the newly-elected class representative simply ran out of the classroom with not much more than an, "Excuse me!"

* * *

Pissard kneeled before his King. "My King, I have found the locations of the Prism Stones in the Garden of Rainbows."

The chained colossus before him moved slightly and opened its eyes. **"Then why do you not have them?"**

Pissard sincerely hoped that his words would not incur his King's wrath. "Two warriors that called themselves Pretty Cure appeared and challenged me. When I summoned a Zakenna, they destroyed it with a single use of Light Power."

The Dark King leaned forwards, chains rattling. **"This news is disturbing. A single use… Still, how well did you fight them? I** _ **know**_ **you, Pissard. You love your dramatics more than you love your life. How much did you posture, rather than fight?"**

Pissard hesitated. "I attempted to intimidate them, but they were rather fearless."

The Dark King chuckled. **"Of course. Pissard, your mission was to take the Prism Stones. It remains so. If you see this Pretty Cure again, try to defeat them. You may ask your sister for help if you cannot think of how."**

Pissard grimaced. "Yes, my King." _He knows my pride won't let me do that. I will prove that I am worthy to be his servant with my own power._

* * *

Nagisa pulled Mepple out of his pouch the moment she was out of sight. " _What._ "

"I'm hungry-mepo."

"What are you, a dog?! I'm trying to keep you secret! Don't just start talking during class!"

"Please, Lady Nagisa!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Big sister Nagisa?"

"Seriously. That's not rhetorical. I really want to know."

"Princess Nagisa!"

"Shut up!" Nagisa shouted, shaking Mepple around.

When she stopped, Mepple could only say, "If I don't eat, I'll die-mepo."

Before more words could flow out of his mouth, Nagisa interrupted. "Okay, fine, but I don't have any food right now."

"Then swipe the Omupu card-mepo. If you do that I can eat-mepo."

"Is that what these other cards do?" she asked, pulling out the deck and going through them. She pulled out one labeled "Omupu" and swiped it in Mepple's card slot. To her surprise, Mepple actually shut up and a bubble rose from nowhere.

"Good morning, Master Mepple," a fat creature in the bubble said. "I have prepared a bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich for you."

Mepple appeared to be in his stuffed animal form inside of the apparition. He waved the sandwich away. "Actually Omupu, I want a Japanese-style breakfast."

Nagisa frowned as she considered the scene. The "Chosen Hero" was rather rude. She wondered if he was enough of a dog that she could train him out of such bad habits.

Omupu sighed and spun in a circle, materializing what Mepple wanted out of nowhere. Nagisa jolted and looked at the magic chef in envy. _I want one of those…_

Without so much as a thank you, Mepple started digging in. "I'm thankful to have been born in Japan!"

Nagisa shook her head. "If you're Japanese, I'm a potato."

* * *

Pissard stood tall over the city, feeling the energy of the Garden of Rainbows. Though he had felt it last time he was there, he hadn't really understood it until this point. Individually, each human had a small amount of power tied to them. Usually, this power manifested as emotion, causing happiness, sadness, rage and hope alike. It was quite different from the power of Light, which manifested as strength and purity, or the power of Dark, which slowly consumed all it touched. Rather, it was a power of human spirit. The power of Rainbows…

"I will gather it for my King," Pissard stated to the air with great conviction.

* * *

Honoka dragged Nagisa to the science lab and shoved her into a chair. Nagisa sat up straight and protested. "Oy, Knowledge Queen! What's your deal? You've been glaring at me all day!"

Honoka grabbed Mipple and held her up. "This is my deal. We can't transform by ourselves. Only when we can see each other!"

Nagisa rubbed the back of her head. "You tried?"

"You didn't?"

"I was sort of tired and wanted to sleep."

Honoka crossed her arms. "This could be one of the greatest discoveries of all time. I'm surprised you could just sleep it off."

"Pardon me for not being a nerd."

"Mipple!" Mepple shouted, turning into a stuffed animal and running across the table. "Can I see Mipple-mepo?"

Honoka glanced at the yellow creature. "She's sleeping."

Mepple sighed and turned back into a phone. "I wasted effort-mepo."

Nagisa straightened suddenly. "How'd you manage that one? If I know these two, yours should have poofed and met with Mepple."

Honoka pulled out a card. "It's the Onemu card. It makes them pass out for like an hour. I'm… not entirely comfortable with it."

"Eh? Why not? That sounds amazing."

"It feels wrong to decide that a self-aware, thinking being should stop bothering you and just _make_ them fall asleep whenever you want," Honoka said. "It almost makes them feel like tools in a way, to turn on or off whenever it's required."

Suddenly, the idea wasn't so amazing. "Yeah, that's kind of… hm. Still, mine doesn't seem to understand the need for secrecy. I ask him to be quiet and he ignores me."

Honoka shrugged. "I don't understand the need for secrecy either, but I do agree that it'd be inconvenient to have to introduce them during the middle of class."

"Did you put yours to sleep because she was making noise?"

"Sort of. Mipple was humming and I asked if she could stop. She told me to use the card so that she wouldn't be bored. I guess that was the only way that I was comfortable with it, is because she said to."

Nagisa had managed to pull out the Onemu card while they were talking. "Mepple, if you don't want me to put you to sleep, you need to be quiet when we're around other people."

Mepple, who had been slowly trying to wander off during the conversation, fell down and shouted, "Yes!"

Nagisa picked up the fairy creature. "I'm serious. A peep out of you and I will swipe it immediately. I won't take the risk of being discovered."

Honoka snorted. "We'll be taking that risk every time we fight Dark foes."

"But we don't need to advertise ourselves, either!" Nagisa said, whipping around.

"Yes, I know. That's the only reason why I agreed yesterday. Because we don't have any need to tell anyone. And I suppose there are benefits to anonymity…"

Nagisa sighed, and there was a few moments of quiet. Then Honoka spoke up. "I want to talk to you about future fights."

"What about them?"

"We can only transform if we can see each other, and we don't know when enemies will show up. So firstly, we should separate as little as possible."

"I'm pretty sure my friends would notice," Nagisa pointed out.

"Then make me one of your friends."

Nagisa's mouth fell open. "Um, no offense or anything, but you're not exactly… friend material."

Honoka looked almost bored. "I'm well aware of that. We'll talk about it later, but I want to keep going. The second thing is the Marble Screw."

Nagisa nodded. "That was rather powerful."

"The first moment we can safely use it, we use it immediately against every opponent."

"What?"

"There's no point in jumping around and wasting time letting our opponent maneuver. We have a powerful attack. Its detriments are that it takes half a minute to go through the lightning and talking bits, and that it seems to only fire in a straight line, though we may be able to work on that second one. Therefore, we have to make sure we'll be moderately safe for thirty seconds before using it, and then use it the moment we can."

Nagisa put her hand on her chin. "Wait, what about while we're transforming? That takes like a minute too."

"Already asked Mipple about it. Apparently we're invulnerable during that time because of the Light Power entering us, though she couldn't tell me how it worked. However, despite invulnerability enemies can still get close and hit us as soon as we stop talking."

Nagisa stood up and started pacing. "So we fight a little bit, but only so that we can use the Marble Screw? What if we find someone who can survive it?"

Honoka smiled. "That's why, sometime _this week_ , we're going to transform and test our limits, and maybe see if we can discover a few other powers in the process. Just think, a whole new branch of physics, and we get to discover it! So many possible laws waiting to be tested…" She almost seemed to salivate at the idea.

Nagisa grimaced, and then a soccer ball came in through a window, spreading broken glass everywhere. Biting back a girly scream, Nagisa picked up the ball and walked to the window. "This is from the boys' soccer team. This is the second floor. How did they even kick it up here?"

"I could tell you about how force and velocity work, but I somehow doubt you'd be able to handle technical explanations."

"Give me a moment. I'm going to go yell at them."

* * *

Nagisa opened the gate to the field, righteous anger in her eyes. "Hey! Where are you guys aiming?!"

A boy stepped forwards. "I'm sorry, are you hurt?"

Nagisa halted. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped. _He's…_ "Hot."

"Hm? What did you say?" The hot boy asked.

Another boy walked over. "Ah, it was an accident. Fujipi's special kick got away from him," he said, referring to the hot boy.

Fujipi nodded sheepishly. "I really am sorry. Um, you didn't say—are you fine?"

Nagisa stood up straight, face turning red. "Please be careful from now on," she said almost mechanically, handing the ball back and walking stiffly out of the field.

From the lab, Honoka watched her partner trek back, noting the reaction to what looked like her childhood friend, Fujipi. _Reaction appears to be the kind I've noticed in pre-couple girls before they confess and become part of a couple. And this time I'll be able to track this peculiar social behavior closely. Excellent._

* * *

Pissard stood in front of a salesman giving a pitch. "…it can pick up even fleas from carpets."

In order to gather the power of Rainbows, he would either need great magical attunement that he didn't have or use a capturing device possessed by a Zakenna. The capturing device would absorb power, and the Zakenna would hold it. Having seen an advertisement for a vacuum cleaner had made him intrigued, but he was less than enthused when a salesman had started talking without end. _Yes! I want one! You don't have to try to convince me because I already want one! NOW SHUT UP AND GIVE IT TO ME!_ he shouted in his mind, using the little power he had to compel the man.

"Thank you… for your purchase."

 _Finally._

* * *

Nagisa sat in her room, hugging a pillow and staring out her window. After she got back to the lab, she had been barely responsive as she scheduled a future 'experimentation session' with Honoka, who had been wearing a weird smile. But now that she was in her room, she could deal with the aftermath of her encounter with Fujipi in her usual manner. "So. Hottest boy you've ever seen speaks with you, and you become a red-faced mess. Good job, Nagisa."

Mepple sprang up, causing her to fling the pillow across the room. "Ooh! That's so sweet-mepo! Nagisa's got a crush!"

Nagisa whacked Mepple onto the floor. "Shut up! Don't you tell anyone! And leave me alone when I talk to myself!"

Mepple smiled the same weird smile that Honoka had worn. "I can't do that. From now on we'll be together for a long time."

"If I can't have privacy in _my own room_ , I'm either putting you to sleep or putting you outside." Sure, those weren't morally _good_ actions, but she had to draw the line somewhere. And that line was at people listening to her talk to herself.

"I'll be good-mepo! Hey, do you want to hear the story of my homeland?"

"Not really, but if it'll help you to get it out of your system…" Nagisa sighed.

"I and Mipple lived in the Garden of Light-mepo. The flowers were always in bloom and it was very beautiful. The people all had bravery, hope, and justice in their hearts. And we all lived happily together for a long time!"

"How much is a 'long time?'" Nagisa asked, more to keep herself from being bored than to actually participate.

"Oh, thousands and thousands of years-mepo!"

Nagisa fell backwards. "You've lived for thousands and thousands of years? How old are you?!"

"Mepo? I'm a bit younger than Mipple, three-thousand four-hundred and six."

Nagisa gaped. "You're… old."

"Am not-mepo! Anyways, one day, dark things came from nowhere and began to devour the Garden of Light-mepo. They were from the Dark Zone!"

"I see…" Nagisa murmured, trying to recover from her earlier shock.

"The Queen and Elder were afraid they'd be consumed, so they gave two Prism Stones to me, the chosen hero, and Mipple, the Princess of Hope, so we could escape-mepo!"

* * *

Honoka digested this information. She was surprised that it had actually taken this long for her to ask Mipple about this. _So, fluffy immortal creatures in fairyland get attacked by darkness, are given Prism Stones. Mental note to ask about immortality later, for now ask about-_

"Prism Stones?"

"They are the stones of life. Both Mepple and I have one-mipo. And the evil Dark Zone people are targeting us for it, so we hid here in the Garden of Rainbows."

"Stones… of… life? They're the things making you live forever?"

"Yes, and making the Garden of Light bloom forever-mipo."

Honoka face-palmed. "So whose bright idea was it to put immortality devices in the middle of a place with no defenses?"

"Honoka!"

"Yes, grandma?" she asked, grabbing Mipple in case her nosy grandmother charged right into the room. Her grandma was the main reason why she had developed the ability to simulate conversations, since her grandma was always asking her questions and telling her things she was not prepared for.

Sure enough, her grandma slid open the door. "Honoka, who were you talking to just now?"

Honoka held Mipple up. "I was talking on my cell phone."

"When did you get that cell phone?"

"Yesterday, actually. I'm using it to keep in touch with a friend."

"I see." Her grandma's face became more serious. "You went into the storage shed recently?"

 _What? Why is this serious? Wait, she's always kept me away from there… but I didn't see anything dangerous in there. Or anything that needed to be kept secret except-_

Honoka held Mipple up again. "I didn't fool you for a moment, did I?"

Her grandma smiled mysteriously. "It's good to hear you two getting along." She slid close the door and left.

 _Add that to the list of things to ask Mipple._

* * *

Pissard stood on top of another building. It was simply far too tempting to pass up. The humans had built all these enormous structures he could use to stand above large crowds, and his sense of drama told him that they _must_ be stood on to achieve the proper effect. He raised his hand. "Let the show begin! Raging spirits of heaven, Zakenna! Heart of Darkness, make them understand the horror of the Dark Power!"

Black clouds formed, and Pissard laughed madly as the vacuum cleaner rose and grew larger. "Arise! Suck every last drop of energy!"

"ZAKENNA!" The possessed cleaner started sucking, and electricity shot into it.

"Wait, Zakenna! Not that energy! Suck up the power of Rainbows!"

"Zakenna?" It tried sucking again, but only picked up the electricity.

 _Damn it. It's not magical enough to pick up magical energy. Well, I suppose it's better than nothing, and perhaps my King can make use of it somehow…_

Pissard frowned, watching the city black out. He wasn't quite sure how electricity worked, but this source had somehow run out. He waved his hand. "Come along, Zakenna."

* * *

"What I don't understand is why you didn't bring more people from the Garden of Light. Then they'd be out of danger from the Darkness and we'd have more people who could transform on our side, right?" It was easy logic. Even if they could only transform around each other, it would make sense to have as many people using their apparently infinite power source as possible.

"Very few have Awakened," Mipple replied. "Some are close, but…" Her eyes widened. "Someone from the Dark Zone is attacking again-mipo!"

Honoka stood up. "You can just sense them?"

"I can sense the Dark magic-mipo!"

"Alright, lead me there!"

* * *

Nagisa met Honoka at the base of a skyscraper. "Huh? You're here?"

Honoka rolled her eyes. "Yes. Mipple knows where Dark magic is being used, just like Mepple."

Nagisa shook her head. "No, I mean, it's dangerous. All of the traffic lights aren't working. I was surprised that you got past all that."

"No one's driving or walking around precisely _because_ it's 'dangerous.' I have to wonder why it's happened. If their goal is to get the Prism Stones… you know about those, right? If that's their goal, then shutting of the electricity wouldn't help them that much."

Nagisa shrugged and looked up. "Are they on top of this building?"

"Yes-mepo!"

"But… the elevators probably aren't working… and that's like seventy flights of stairs."

Honoka smacked the back of Nagisa's head. "Hey brainiac. We're Pretty Cure. Let's transform so that we can run up the building instead."

"Can we actually do that?"

"Let's make this test number one."

They pulled out the Queen cards and spent a minute transforming. "…Return to the Darkness from which you came!" Nagisa finished, pointing at the building. "Man, it's so awkward to say all that. Can we figure out a way to not say it?"

"Maybe. It'll still take a minute to absorb Light power, whatever it actually is. My guess is that the talking distracts opponents from the fact that we're immobile so they don't hit us the moment we're done."

Nagisa sighed and stretched. As had happened last time, she was much more aware of her own movements. She envisioned several actions, and she knew she could do almost any of the physical feats that came to mind. Including, in this case, running up a building. Behind her, she could faintly feel Honoka getting ready. It was weird to have a sense like that, but it had helped her save Honoka at least twice in the last fight, so she was okay with it "Let's start climbing."

Honoka frowned. "How are we going to do that? I know I said running up the side, but that doesn't seem feasible."

An image came to mind. "Like this." Nagisa jumped up twenty feet, put the tip of her boot in a small gap between windows, and pushed herself up further. She grabbed the next gap and pulled herself up so she could push off of it as well. Looking down, she saw that Honoka had started to do the same, albeit slower and less sure. _Weird. Why is she so slow? Can't she move like me? Though she's not athletic, so I guess that's it._ Nagisa kept climbing.

* * *

Pissard knew they would be along sooner or later. That's why he kept his back towards the roof's door. When they entered, he would slowly turn around and greet them. The drama of the moment should be enough to make his presence seem greater.

Of course, this plan did not take into account Nagisa climbing up the wall in front of him and kicking him in the face.

The redhead turned around to see that Honoka was still four floors down. "Hey, it's that guy from before! Pissant or something!"

"PISSAAAAAARD!"

Nagisa shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

"It is a better name than 'Cure Black' at least!"

"That's not my name. It's more like a title or something."

"Will you two idiots stop fighting so we can start fighting?" Apparently, Honoka had finished her climb.

The moment ruined, Pissard could not think of anything else he'd rather do. "Zakenna!"

A giant vacuum monstrosity raised its hoses and turned. "ZAKENNA!" it shouted, swinging its snout down and smashing the ground.

Nagisa dodged. She wasn't sure what to do other than dodge. There wasn't much room up here and any attempt to use the Marble Screw would be quickly interrupted. "Knowledge Queen! What do we do?"

"Try to disable it so we can finish it off!"

"Right." While the Zakenna was facing away, she jumped off the ground and kicked one of its legs. It dented in, but not very much. "It's pretty solid!"

Honoka glanced at Pissard, who was just watching. "Um, hey! You going to attack?"

Pissard's eyes narrowed. "No."

 _Three possibilities. One, the opponent is not very bright. Two, he's trying to test us. Three, it takes concentration to control a Zakenna. The opponent is not stupid, nor does he seem scientific-minded. I could be wrong, but…_ "Nagi- I mean, Black! Keep that thing occupied!"

Nagisa narrowly avoided another sweep. "Easy for you to say!"

Honoka ran forwards and aimed a punch, but Pissard wasn't there anymore. He was behind her, grabbing her and tossing her towards the Zakenna. _Oh. Four, it's a trap._

The Zakenna turned to suck her towards its mouth. Noting how far the mouth was open, she spread her arms and legs out to catch the edges, grunting as she hit it with some force.

"Hahahaha! Zakenna, take care of them!"

The thing turned and spit her at the roof door, breaking it and making her fall down a shaft of some sort. Seeing a floor rapidly approach, she turned and landed softly on her feet. _Okay, what. Can we fall any distance safely so long as we land on our feet? What kind of nonsense is that?_

Nagisa, of course, did not land on her feet, denting the floor and crying out. "Ow, ow, ow."

"How'd you end up here?"

"It grabbed me with its power cord and tossed."

"If you land on your feet, it doesn't hurt at all."

"Really? That would've been nice to know like ten seconds ago."

Voices came up from below. "Nagisa, is that you?"

"Rina?"

"I'm here too!"

"Shiho?"

Honoka grabbed Nagisa's shoulder. "This is an elevator. Must've stopped working when the power went out."

"Nagisa, what are you doing up there?"

"Uh…"

Pissard laughed, causing them to look up. "A present to Pretty Cure, from me!" He turned his hand, snapping the cables with Dark power.

Nagisa screamed, and Honoka growled. "PANIC LATER! We need to stop this thing!"

"How are we supposed to do that?!"

Honoka looked around, noting the size of the elevator and the cables that had fallen. "Time to test how strong we are." She grabbed a cable and tied it around her waist and made Nagisa do the same. Then she and Nagisa laid down on the floor, and started pushing on each other's hands. "Make sure you push down as well as out! If you don't, we'll probably fall on our faces and die!"

"I know, I know!"

 _As if._ "One, two, three!" They pushed their feet to the sides of the shaft hard, friction causing the elevator to decelerate. "Harder!"

Nagisa tried to stay straight and stiff, letting her Cure instincts guide her muscles into the right places to avoid falling forwards. "Yeah, yeah, I know!"

They slowed, but didn't stop before crashing into the bottom floor. Nagisa stood up, aching. "Okay, so I know Mipple said we couldn't run out of Light power, but we can still get tired and hurt."

"Yes, I've already noted that."

"Nagisa, you okay?" Shiho asked from below.

"Er… yes."

"Everyone here is alright too. I… think you saved us? Somehow?"

Hearing her say that reminded Nagisa of Pissard. "Hey Queen."

Honoka stood up as well. "What is it?"

"That guy really pisses me off! Let's pay him back for this!"

"Fine with me."

This time, the climb was easier. Jumping off the sides of the elevator shaft was so much faster than climbing the side of a building.

* * *

Honoka ran out in front of Nagisa, ready for anything, only to see Pissard smiling. _Uh-oh._

"Zakenna, max power!" _Oh crap._

The Zakenna reared back, and in that instant, Honoka sorted through her mind for a way out. The panic that broke her usual calmness lent her thoughts more urgency than usual. _I need to dodge can't dodge I need to jump not enough momentum I need to block how do I block must block will BLOCK!_

The electricity that rushed from the Zakenna hit a shining rainbow shield that covered both Cures. Honoka paused, noting the weird feeling in her brain and in her outstretched hand. Nagisa was dumbfounded. "How are you…?"

Suddenly, Honoka grinned. "Oh, so that's what it is. I understand now. Na- Black, rather, it's time for the Marble Screw."

Nagisa tentatively stepped forwards. The weird sense that allowed her to feel Honoka was telling her that Honoka was not just in her body, but also in the shield. "BLACK THUNDEEEEER!"

"WHITE THUNDEEEEER!"

Black and white lightning fell slowly down and struck their outstretched palms, going through the shield.

"Our beautiful souls…"

"…shall crush your evil heart!"

"Pretty Cure Marble Screeeeeeew!"

The shield evaporated as the blast struck the Zakenna, forcing it to come out of the machine and explode into stars. Honoka noted tiredly that once again, Pissard had vanished.

Nagisa stepped towards her partner. "Okay, what was that?"

Honoka swayed on her feet and grinned. "That was magic."

"Yeah, I could see that. How did you do that?"

Honoka fell on her butt and laughed. "I concluded that I had to block. So I did."

Mepple spoke up. "That wasn't the power of Light-mepo!"

"No, it was the power of Rainbows-mipo!" Mipple said.

"What's the difference?" Nagisa asked.

Honoka laid back. "Well, they're from the Garden of Light and call this place the Garden of Rainbows. If I had to guess, the power of Light is what lets us transform and use the Marble Screw, while the power of Rainbows is something that we have because we're from here."

"The power of Rainbows is the power of humans!" Mipple confirmed.

Nagisa frowned. "Then why can't anyone here just make shields?"

"I think… that the power of Light made you Awaken-mipo?" Mipple suggested.

"I don't get it. Knowledge Queen, do you… oh." Honoka had fallen asleep. "Welp, guess I have to put her to bed. We can talk later."

* * *

Pissard stood on a utility pole, watching the electricity turn on as the Dark power evaporated from the cables. "I, Pissard, did not take you seriously," he said to nothing in particular. _The white one could block so much with just her own power of Rainbows. What would have happened if I could have actually taken it all from the people in this city, as I had planned?_

He scoffed. _Guess I'll never know. I must report this to my King._

* * *

Nagisa walked down the road to Verone High, sighing. She had managed to bring Honoka home by going through her room's window. The blue-haired girl had slept the entire way and had continued sleeping through the night and well into the morning. Deciding that Honoka could stand a day absent, Nagisa had let her sleep and went to school. She just hoped that Honoka's family wouldn't panic, wherever they were. And that her own family wouldn't discover the unconscious girl on her bed. "Well, at least it can't get worse."

She felt two hands clamp on her shoulders and pull her back. She looked around to see two pairs of eyes. "Uh… Rina, Shiho."

"You saved us. We're glad about that," Shiho started.

"But we've had some time to think about it, and we don't know how you did that," Rina said.

"Suddenly, you and a girl you called 'Queen' were on the ceiling, and you stopped the elevator from falling so fast."

"And there was some guy shouting about a gift of pretty curse or something."

"And then there were some noises and you weren't on the ceiling anymore."

Nagisa slid out of their grasps. "Well, I don't suppose I can _not_ talk about this?"

The pair crossed their arms. "Nagisa, we are your friends. Spill," Rina commanded.

Nagisa took a moment to compose herself. "Well, you see, two days ago…"

* * *

Honoka woke up in an unfamiliar room. She sat up and saw that Mepple and Mipple were cuddling in their fluffier forms. "Where am I?"

Mepple smiled. "You're at Nagisa's house-mepo."

"Be quiet, since Nagisa's family doesn't know we're here-mipo."

Honoka nodded. "How long have I been out?"

"About fifteen hours-mepo?"

"Yes, about that-mipo."

 _So school has started by now. And I'm not in a place where I can change and get my things. And I'd have to sneak out of here to avoid attracting attention, get across town, into my place, then to school… I may as well stay here._ "Say, Mipple? Before I passed out, you said something about Awakening?"

"Yes-mipo. I believe using Light power has made you Awaken."

"And now I can use the power of Rainbows?"

"I believe so-mipo."

"Can I use it when not transformed?"

Both of the creatures let out a surprised noise. "I don't know. I've never seen the power of Rainbows used like that before-mipo."

Honoka turned her attention inwards. What had happened during that fight? She had panicked, yes, but that had only been the catalyst. Rather, she had intuitively fallen back on her own natural pattern of sorting through actions and had sort of… _decided_. She had decided that there was only one way that events were going to go, and she had made it happen simply by eliminating every other option in her head.

That meant that magic was following her rationale. That meant that magic was a function of logic, and more specifically, her logic.

 _The power of Rainbows is the power of humans… what do we say every time we use the Marble Screw? 'Our beautiful souls shall crush your evil heart.' And for the power of Rainbows, it appears to be literal. I literally manifested the essence of who I am and used it to protect us._

She held out her hand towards a snuggling Mipple and thought. _I am aware that I am capable of using magic. It makes no sense that I can no longer use it, since the power is my own. I am aware that the magic obeys my will. It makes no sense that I cannot use it to pull Mipple to me. Therefore I will pull Mipple to me. There is no other option._

It took a few tries to immerse herself in the desired self-deception that physics was supposed to obey her. Once she succeeded, though, the results were immediate. Mipple flew away from Mepple and into Honoka's hand, protesting quietly yet vehemently. Honoka laughed for a few seconds before passing out again. Her last thoughts were, _If I can do this, what can Nagisa do?_

* * *

 **A/N: In episode 2, they're on the ground and see that the elevators go out. Then they say something like "we need to get on the roof." The next instant, we see them on the roof, untransformed, and looking just fine. What we don't see is the hour spent climbing a skyscraper (elevators are out!), being winded, and recovering before going out on the roof. Pissard must be quite patient.**

 **Many thanks to my Betas: JoyPrecureGreen and The Writer Of The Fanfiction.**


	3. Chapter 3

Shiho and Rina were quite surprised to find out that their friend had magic.

"So what does this make you, a superhero?" Rina asked, almost disbelieving.

"No, I think she's one of those things that you see in children's cartoons. You know, a magical girl?" Shiho snapped her fingers, remembering the term.

"But they're all really young. Like elementary schoolers. Nagisa's too old, isn't she?"

"I'm only thirteen!" Nagisa protested.

The other two ignored her. "Wasn't Sailor Moon a high schooler?"

"How would I know? I didn't watch that."

Shiho turned to Nagisa. "So, since you're a magical girl, what is your finishing move called?"

"Um… Pretty Cure Marble Screw."

Rina frowned. "Quite the mouthful."

Nagisa snorted. "You don't know the half of it. whenever we transform, we give the most ridiculous speech ever."

Rina's eyebrows waggled suggestively. "About this 'we.' You said 'Queen,' as in 'Queen of Knowledge?'"

Nagisa rolled her eyes. "Yes. I know what you're going to say, so just don't."

"I knew you'd end up together."

"Damn it, Rina."

* * *

Nagisa arrived home, sighing. This was not going to end up well, was it? Honoka had been trapped in her room all day long, and Nagisa didn't have so much as a book to keep her partner occupied. She was tempted to knock, but why would she knock on her own door? She gathered her courage, opened the door, and was immediately hit in the face with a pillow.

Her room had somehow turned into a warzone. "Okay, what the hell. Seriously, Mepple?"

Mepple, who was of course teamed with Mipple, pointed at Honoka. "It's her fault-mepo! She started with her tele… teleken… tele…"

"Telekinesis," Honoka finished. "I've gained quite a bit of practice at concentrating and moving by throwing pillows at and blocking pillows from our little friends. Also, I only pass out every minute or so now and wake up after about ten. So I'm getting better, only I think that my grasp of reality is restricting me somehow."

"Wait, slow down. What are you doing? Explain slower."

Honoka mentally picked up another pillow. "I'm practicing magic. It has to be the most fun thing I've ever done," she said in a completely deadpan voice.

Nagisa just stared. "You can use magic without transforming."

"I think you can too, but I don't know too much about you, so I can't say what kind you can use."

"I can use magic?"

Honoka nodded. "The power of Rainbows is based on who you are, in the most literal possible terms. I only can use it because I've been able to trick myself into believing that I can't not use it."

Nagisa put her hand to her head. Of course Honoka would come up with something so convoluted. "So… you're saying…"

"The magic you use has to do with the core of who you are. And I wanted to ask you about something because of that."

"What's that?"

"Is there anything weird you've felt or done when we've transformed? Something that's not normal? I wouldn't know because I think different from you, and so have different powers."

Nagisa thought and started pacing. "So, other than what I've seen you do, right? Because you think we have different powers."

"Yes."

"I've been able to make my body move as perfectly as I imagine, though I thought you could do that too."

"No, but that's interesting. Continue."

"Uh… I can sort of… sense you."

"What?"

Nagisa held up her hands. "I know, that's weird! I thought it was a Cure thing, though."

"You can… sense me? Like what I'm thinking?"

"No, no! Nothing like that. Just sort of… where you are and how you're moving. And yesterday you were in that shield like it was part of your skin." Honoka was speechless, so Nagisa kept talking. "It was happening anyways and I thought it was okay because you could do it too and it was a little creepy because it was like you were watching me but it helped me protect you a few times and you're giving me a weird look."

"You get an image of me in your head?"

Nagisa thought about it. "Not really. It's just like I knew… how your body was." That was a rather awkward explanation, but perhaps the most accurate she had.

Honoka thought about this. "So… like a radar? But also like… a scan?"

"I think so? It's weird."

Honoka smiled. "Well, it's useful. If it's got some distance, then I can send you signals without talking to you. Or you can use it to plan what to do before jumping in. I don't think that it only applies to me, though, and since I can't use it I think you can use it without transforming."

Nagisa sat down. "How do I do that?"

"As far as I can tell, you just have to be yourself more than you usually are."

Nagisa sighed. "I'd expect something like that from Mepple, but you? I mean, you don't make sense a lot, but it's not because you're trying not to."

Honoka laughed, a clear and pretty sound. "I suppose. We'll work on it in our experiments. Anyways, how was school? I've been asleep for most of today, so could I get news?"

"The teacher volunteered me to be in charge of next week's trip to the art museum. I mean, I know I'm the representative and all, but I really don't like doing this sort of thing."

Honoka shrugged. "If you really need help, I'm here and I don't mind doing that sort of thing."

Nagisa smiled, relieved. "Thanks. Um… there's a few new student teachers coming in. one's supposed to be a hot guy."

"More or less hot than Fujipi?"

"No one could be more hot than- HEY!"

The weird smile from yesterday returned to Honoka's mouth. "I saw you talking to him. Or rather, failing to talk to him. It was quite entertaining."

"You cannot tell anyone, okay?"

"Don't worry. I would not sacrifice data so needlessly. I'm not the best at social things, but I'm not stupid, either."

"Data…? Wait, how did you know his name?" Nagisa asked, suspicious.

"He's my childhood friend."

"You have a friend?"

"His naïveté amuses me."

Nagisa face-palmed. "Of course. Miss Knowledge Queen's friends are there to amuse her."

Honoka frowned. "That's not what I meant. Do not put words in my mouth."

"Okay. Fine. I'm sorry." Nagisa quickly changed the subject. "So that's all that I can think of that happened today. I wasn't sure what to say when they called your name for attendance, so I didn't say anything. That alright?"

Honoka nodded. "I'm not really missing anything by not being in class, and it's not a day where the science club meets. I would only need to go three days a week if I didn't have to go all five."

"Lucky."

"As much as I enjoy talking about school, which is not much, I would like to go home now. And come to think of it, you should come as well so that if this happens again, you know where I live."

"Then… let's see if we can get you out the front door. If not, we can transform and go out the window. Sound like a plan?"

* * *

Pissard kneeled before his King. "I most humbly apologize. I attempted to bring you the power of Rainbows, but failed."

" **You were not made to hold such power. Perhaps Ilkubo could, though it matters not right now. You should know your limits."**

"Of course, my King. I should have known. I have instead infiltrated a place where Pretty Cure feels safe, and will use my power to take a hostage. Though they are not intimidated by the dramatic, this should make them hesitate long enough for me to kill them."

" **It sounds as if you put some thought into it this time. Though that is not like you at all."**

Pissard twitched. "It was Poisonny's idea."

The Dark King laughed. **"Perhaps I should send her out next. Go, try out her plan. If you fail, then I will give your task to one of your siblings. I have not given you a Prism Stone so that you can fail, and you will not be allowed to leave if you fail once more."**

* * *

"Holy moly! It's huge!

The pair stood outside of Honoka's house, and Honoka wished that she could understand what made Nagisa feel the need to state such an obvious thing. "Yes. My house is large. My parents are rather wealthy."

"So you're pretty, smart, popular with boys, _and_ you're rich? Seriously, universe?! This is blatant favoritism!"

"I don't know," Honoka said, opening the door to her yard. "I think I'd rather have parents who are around. You know that I had to hide no less than three times at your place because your mom kept coming in to clean for you? I'd love to have someone fuss over me like that."

Nagisa wasn't sure what to say. "Your parents are never around?"

"They only come around on my birthday bringing lots of gifts, as if that makes up for not being there for an entire year. They ask me questions and shower me with praise, but they're not the kind of people who'd raise a kid. They'd rather travel and work and be a couple instead of a family. And honestly? They're not really that bad. Because they really do love me and sincerely feel guilty about leaving me alone. But that also makes it worse, because they love me and choose not to actually… make an effort." She stopped, halfway to the house, gauging Nagisa's reaction.

Nagisa was looking down at the ground, hands behind her back. "That's. Just. I can't believe there are people like that."

Honoka smiled. "It's fine. I also have Chuutaro. Chuutaro!"

A large golden retriever bounded down from around the house, coming to see Honoka and smell where she'd been. "Don't worry, he's friendly."

Nagisa hesitated, then reached down and petted the dog. "Aw, he's soft."

 _An acute observation._ She led them around to the side and opened the door. "This is my room. You may stay here, I am going to talk with my grandmother." She walked further down the hall to her grandmother's room. "Grandma, I'm back."

"I see. You were incapable of returning by yourself, and your partner didn't know where the house was?"

 _How did she deduce that with available evidence? But then, she knows about Mipple… No, even if she knows about Mipple… The correct response here is another question._ "Grandma, my partner, as you put it, is here. Since that is the case, would you be able to explain yourself to us?"

"I have no reason not to." Her grandma's ever present smile grew wider. "It makes me feel young again to think about you taking up the name of Pretty Cure."

 _Even if she had Mipple, how would she transform? Mepple wasn't there…_ "Thank you. I will come here with her shortly."

She walked back to her room, a bit nervous as to what the meeting would hold, then decided that nervousness was unproductive. She glanced at the more sensitive contents of her room and noted that her picture of Dr. Breakstone had been moved. _Mental note: sensitive material is not safe around Nagisa. She is a snooper._ "We'll be talking to my grandmother soon. She knew about Mipple even before we met. You know what that's about, Mipple?"

Mipple, cuddling with Mepple, shook her head. "I've been asleep for most of the time before Mepple arrived-mipo. And even if she swiped the Queen card, without a partner nothing would've happened-mipo!"

"Wait, wait," Nagisa stopped them. "Your grandma knew about this _before_ we met up?"

"Yes, Nagisa. Try to keep up."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I told you now." _Ridiculous saying that doesn't answer the question, of course, but my projection says that she'll now stop repeating already done parts of the conversation._

Nagisa did not disappoint. "Oh, I see. So if she knew, she talked to Mipple?"

"Not necessarily, but we don't have to figure it out. If you'll come with me, we'll ask her directly."

They started walking down the hall, and Honoka realized that Nagisa was ill-prepared for this encounter. "Here's a warning. My grandma plays mind games. She loves them to death. She will play with how you feel, with what you think, and with how you think it until you're too busy feeling dumb to stop her. Don't let her. If she starts touching on something you don't like, change the subject immediately."

Nagisa looked worried. "That's not a nice thing to say about your grandma."

"I've lived with her for all my life. Believe me when I say I'm not being mean, that's just how she is."

They stopped in front of the door, and Honoka spoke up. "Grandma, may we come in?"

"Of course, dear."

They walked inside and sat down. Not wanting an awkward silence, Honoka started the conversation. "I believe we were going to talk about you and Mipple?"

"Yes. You may ask all the questions you like, though you know enough that you could answer most of them yourself."

That was off-putting. Honoka looked inwards, attempting to connect the dots she didn't know existed, while Nagisa asked a question. "Um… Mrs. Yukishiro?"

"Please, Nagisa, call me Sanae."

"Wait, wait!" Honoka halted everything. "I never told you Nagisa's name. What is this?"

"You know already, dear."

And suddenly, to her horror, Honoka did. _Her words suggest that she was involved with Pretty Cure. The power of Rainbows, unlocked by the power of Light, given form as a reflection of who you are. Who is my grandma? She's good at reading people and likes to play with their minds._ "Holy…"

"There you go, dear."

Nagisa didn't get it at all. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Honoka squirmed uncomfortably, managing to grind out the next four words. "She can read minds."

Her grandmother chuckled. "Close enough. It was my gift as a Cure, Cure Hope."

Honoka had retreated into herself, trying to reassess her life based on this information, so it was left to Nagisa to ask another question. "So you were a Cure?"

"Quite a long time ago, in… nineteen forty-three, when I was your age."

"How did you transform?"

"Only one of those from the Garden of Light is needed to transform, though two humans are needed, as we discovered by accident. Though I think the two of you are much stronger than we were, for having two from the Garden of Light."

Nagisa smiled. "So you had a partner?"

"Yes, Cure Wish. A quiet, shy girl, though she was less so later."

"And what could she do? You know… with Rainbows or whatever."

"She asked me not to tell anyone about it, and I loved her like a sister. That is not something I will tell you."

"Ah. It's just, I was wondering if I could figure out my powers."

Sanae leaned back. "That's not something anyone can teach. That's something you must sort out for yourself. I'm not surprised Honoka discovered it first."

"Huh? Why?"

"Her mind is organized to be flexible about reality, and to be determined about her own self. She knows who she is and has no problem making everything part of herself. You, though, are quite different. You are freer than she is, but you don't know who you are."

Nagisa was confused. Wasn't she just Nagisa? And what did it mean to be freer? "I don't-"

"It's okay. You will learn more about yourself. It's just a part of being a Cure."

Nagisa was not sure about that, but she pressed on. "Did you fight any enemies?"

Sanae shrugged. "A few thieves and muggers, but not the kind you're thinking of. 'The Dark Zone,' hm… Well, at least Honoka will get some exercise."

"Heh. I can't think of any more questions, can you?" Honoka just stared blankly at her.

"Well then, how about I talk with Mipple? I didn't even know she could wake up until recently. I owe her for a great deal of adventure, and for the hope I was given," Sanae suggested.

* * *

Nagisa had left, and Honoka had recovered and gained new resolve. _This woman has been molding me my entire life. She was capable of seeing every change that happened to me as it happened, and she has been pushing me with everything she does. It's disturbing that you're willing to play such games with your grandchild._ She directed that thought at her grandma.

Sanae drank some tea. "Every person who raises a child molds them, changes them. You are a blank slate at birth and something must fill the gap."

 _You've been brainwashing me._

"Of course. That's what parents do with children. 'Brainwashing' is just the bad way of saying 'raising a child to be a certain way.' You are brainwashed to believe that this is good, and that is evil, and that you should be polite and well-mannered and that you should be a good Japanese citizen. And because you know nothing else, you believe it, even if it's wrong. Everyone approves of that, and it's hypocritical to say that brainwashing is bad and that raising a child is good in this context. They are mutually inclusive."

 _Fine. I apologize for labeling such actions negatively with no good logic behind the label, though I will fight that point later when I've had some time to think about it. You've been turning me into something. What is it?_

"A clever young girl."

 _That's not everything. You've made me project conversations, overanalyze mundane situations, question my perception of reality, and so many other things with your constant prodding._

"Do you think you are worse off for it?"

 _That's not the issue. I refuse to create a hypothetical situation in which you did not do this. It's a waste of time. I would like to know why you did this to me._

"It's a bit of a story."

 _You will not divert me with such words! However much I do not like it, it will be the truth, and I will accept it! You know that because YOU MADE ME THIS WAY!_

Her grandmother was quiet, but not for long. "I raised your mother with your grandfather. That was the happiest time of my life. I had a wonderful husband and beautiful daughter. I would even talk to Hanako, who was Cure Wish, about our exciting old adventures in clothes that were too small for us now."

 _Her name is similar to mine._

"Yes. I had some hand in naming you. But that is later. Aya grew up, your grandfather died. Your grandfather had steered her toward the business world, and I had given her, without trying, the mental tools to become successful. Hanako had her own family, and we would go out and talk about our lives. Aya had become a successful jewelry trader, had married a nice man, and had gone overseas, but I wasn't worried. I had a friend, a sister-in-secrets to live alongside. And then she was gone, died of a heart attack."

 _And then you were…_

"All alone. I had this enormous, empty house, a cell phone that never had worked, and a deck of cards, only one card of which I had ever used. My greatest friend was gone, my greatest love was gone, and my beautiful daughter had gone off in her own life. I had nothing to do but live, and keep living. Occasionally I would look into someone's mind, for glimpses of the outside, but otherwise I did little."

 _And then I was born._

"A blank slate, one which your mother left all to me. Impulses and instincts that could be directed. Behaviors that could be altered and layered. You can guess what I did next."

 _You decided to make a mental equal, to so that you had someone to talk to in your loneliness._

"I decided to make a mental superior."

Honoka's eyes widened. "What?"

"Do you think I see the world as you do? All logic and reasoning and cause and effect? Do you think I'm capable of projecting conversations, or of seeing the world as a set of abstractions?"

"…"

"A child absorbs knowledge quickly and without question. I simply developed you to see the world how I wished I could see it, and your marvelous mind did the rest, forming a wonderful picture of how the world works. The things I've learned from you are remarkable."

 _You made me this way to be a source of knowledge for you?_

"No. I did it because I am tired of this world as it is. I was left alone, with nothing, looking at minds that were of no interest to me. My entire life was wasted on childish things, the same pattern everyone wastes their life on: school, marriage, children, growing old, death. Those that I could share with were gone, and the world seemed empty of hope. And then you came along, and I wondered, what would happen if I were to mold a mind from the greatest qualities I had observed? Could I make someone who was smarter than I was? This is my gift to you: you will not be satisfied with wasting your life. You will know better."

Honoka pondered this. _You did this so I would not live like you did. Which makes it all the more interesting that I ended up a Cure._

"Interesting? That is an understatement. You have two from the Garden of Light, and your mind is such that I believe you to be infinitely powerful in Rainbows. You know much of how the universe works, and because of the way you think, you can tell it what to do. Perhaps one day you'll even be able to save the world from its set patterns."

* * *

The next day, there was an assembly just for the seventh graders to introduce the student teachers. Nagisa wasn't sure why this was necessary, since she wasn't going to be having class with most of them, but a chance to look at hot boys was always good. Though she was rather put off by the dull man who was speaking now.

"…hand in hand, let's work together." He earned some polite applause, but no one seemed sad to seem him wander off.

The Vice Principle stepped forwards and began speaking in his unusually high-pitched voice. "That was student teacher Mr. Yamaguchi."

Rina sighed. "I think the rumor mill has failed us."

Shiho shook her head. "He was sort of cute… in his own way?"

"Yeah, no. He was like a drowned rat," Nagisa said, bored.

"Laaast one is Mr. Kazama Yuuichi," the Vice Principle reported, grinning.

Shiho gasped. "Oh, a hottie!"

"He is very good-looking," Rina approved.

"Oh crap."

The two frowned at Nagisa. "Huh?"

"That's Pissard."

Rina looked closely at the man on the stage. "Are you sure? Poofy hair, yeah, but didn't you say he had pale skin and… whoa, strange eyes." The black-in-white-in-blue eyes quickly looked through the crowd, moving towards them.

Nagisa looked away as Pissard's eyes passed over her. She waited a few seconds. "Is he still looking, Shiho?"

"Yeah… even if he wasn't a villain, I don't think I would like the way he stares at you."

Pissard stepped off the stage without saying anything, so the Vice Principle stumbled out an apology for him. Nagisa looked around for Honoka. _She was right, we need to stick with each other, no matter how 'not friend material' she is…_

Nagisa completely failed to notice Miss Yoshimi's love-laced eyes following Pissard as he left.

* * *

Pissard allowed the woman, Yoshimi, to ramble on. He was unsure of why her cheeks were red. Perhaps she was sick. He stayed quiet when she asked him questions, and allowed her to keep talking until she was in position. When she laughed about how he was too embarrassed to say anything, he smiled and hit her with his meager power.

He sent her an image of Cure Black. _BRING THIS GIRL TO THE GYM AND AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS._ Her eyes went blank and she nodded. Good. His ability to dominate others was limited to simple commands, but the way to best use it was to give a command to wait for more commands. That way he could use it repeatedly.

He sighed. He had spent far too long on waiting and not enough time on acting. This is why he hated Poisonny's plans.

* * *

"Nagisa, please come with me," her homeroom teacher said.

Nagisa and Honoka both stood up at once, and Nagisa got a confused look on her face. "Uh, what?"

Yoshimi led Nagisa into the hall. Honoka followed as well, but Yoshimi didn't acknowledge her. "She only asked for me, Knowledge Queen."

"She has this blank look, she's not noticing me despite us talking out loud, and Pissard is here. I know you're not as smart as I am, but could you please use your brain?"

Nagisa was suddenly alert. "Okay… you think she'd remember if we transformed here?"

"Doesn't matter. We'll have to do it anyways. I'd rather not arrive wherever she's leading you untransformed."

They started the process. A minute later, Nagisa was pointing at a locker. "Return to the darkness from which you came! Man this is dumb."

"I wonder if we could speed it up with our own powers?" Honoka wondered.

"Which ones?"

"The only ones that could do that in this situation. The power of Rainbows."

Nagisa couldn't help but snicker. "You know, every time I hear someone say that I think of unicorns and fairies and crap like that."

"Fairies have nothing to do with Rainbows-mepo!" Mepple snorted.

Nagisa started following after her homeroom teacher, who had seemed to wait patiently while they were magically changing clothes. "You have fairies in Perfectland?"

"We are fairies-mipo," Mipple explained.

"You don't look like fairies."

"I don't know why humans think fairies are little humans with wings-mipo."

Honoka thought about it. "Why did you name yourselves fairies? It's kind of weird that we speak the same language. I mean, how often do people cross from the Garden of Light to the Garden of Rainbows? Where even is the Garden of Light?"

"I'm not sure how to answer that-mipo. It's not in this space or time."

Honoka's eyes widened. "What, you're from another universe?"

"…No?"

Nagisa brought her arm up. "I think we're here. It's the gym."

Honoka shrugged. "Lots of space to move around in. Lots of potential hazards. Not sure what he's going to have the Zakenna possess this time. Maybe a basketball hoop."

Yoshimi walked straight towards the center of the room, where 'Kazama Yuuichi' was waiting for them. "I've been waiting for you, young- wait, why are both of you here?"

Honoka chuckled at that. "Your trap was too obvious."

Nagisa grinned. "And it's not really a trap. It's more of an invitation to kick your ass again."

"Do not make a mockery of me!"

"You don't need any help with that, pissant."

"AAAAAGH! Are you going to call me that every time?!"

"I'm thinking about it."

Pissard threw off his disguise and raised his arm. "Raging spirits of the heavens, Zakenna! Heart of darkness, consume everything and make them understand the horror of the Dark power!"

Dark clouds roiled down through the windows, taking control of a pile of wood hoops. They sprang up and shot themselves at the pair. "ZAKENNA!"

Nagisa imagined and executed a series of flips out of the way. The only problem now was that she was away from Honoka, who had ran in the opposite direction. Oh wait, strike that, there was a new problem: Yoshimi was now up on a high catwalk. "Knowledge Queen! He's going to make Miss Yoshimi jump!"

Honoka nodded. "I've got it, you get Pissard!"

Nagisa grunted and ran towards the man, but a series of possessed basketballs flew at her. She chopped at each one, but that didn't really seem to do anything other than knock them away one at a time.

Behind her, Yoshimi jumped from the balcony and was caught with telekinesis. Concentrating, Honoka lowered her to the ground and turned to see Nagisa push her way past the last of the basketballs. _That's stupid. A swarm of basketballs is unpredictable, hits hard, and is difficult to block. If I were a swarm of blunt objects I wouldn't stop being them just because I was hit. Unless… what knocks a Zakenna out is literally knocking it out? And the Marble Screw is a 'fast' way of doing that… Not enough data to be conclusive._

Nagisa aimed a punch at Pissard, who grabbed her wrist. Instead of pulling away, Nagisa punched the hand that was holding her, forcing Pissard to let go. He instead aimed a kick, which Nagisa blocked with her knee. "Zakenna!" he shouted desperately. "Let's wrap this up!"

Nagisa turned to see a possessed curtain fly at her. "Oh that pun's so cheesy." It covered her and squeezed, squishing the air out of her lungs. "Can't breathe!"

Pissard laughed. "Okay, Zakenna, finish her-" he was cut off as he dodged a fist coming towards his face. Honoka's hand came down and grabbed his shirt while she mentally tugged his foot out from under him. "Wait, no, no!" Pissard hit the floor and began writhing around.

Confused, Honoka looked down at her hand to see that she held the gem he had worn around his neck. "What? This… what?" Making a mental note to check it out later and putting it in Mipple's pouch, she turned to the curtain, which was still squeezing her partner. "This is going to be bad." She took a deep breath and concentrated, pulling the curtain apart so that there was just enough room for Nagisa to slide out. Gasping from the effort, she sat down on the floor. "Come on, Nagisa. You need to…" her voice gave out as she fell asleep.

Nagisa fell to the ground and immediately began running. She had felt what Honoka had done, and now her partner was in danger. Mipple was going nuts. "Cure Black-mipo! She fell asleep-mipo! You gotta save her-mipo! The Zakenna's coming-mipo!"

"Alright, enough mipoing! Will the Marble Screw work?"

"I don't know-mipo!"

"Damn it!" She grabbed Honoka's right hand. "Black Thunder!"

Honoka didn't say anything, but black lightning fell down into Nagisa's hand. _Yes!_ The Zakenna sprung at her. _Not enough time! What am I going to-_ "Uh…"

The next lines of the speech would've been Honoka's, but she was unconscious. Without a release, the black lightning kept flowing into Nagisa. The Zakenna wrapped itself around them, but when it touched Nagisa, it was set on fire. It quickly released her, but kept hold of her partner. She looked down at her hands, which were glowing brighter and brighter. "Oh no."

She had to get rid of it. She didn't know what would happen if she couldn't get rid of it. Maybe she would melt, or explode, but whatever it was couldn't be good. She looked at the curtain, feeling Honoka's life get squeezed out. That connection had been creepy, but now it was horrifying. She had to get that thing off of her, but how was she going to do that? If she tried to grab it, it would just jump away. And she didn't know if she could catch it before the black lightning did something to her.

And then she felt Miss Yoshimi. "Nagisa? What are you wearing? Why are we in the gym?"

"No time to explain, just say what I tell you!" Her strange ability was telling her that Miss Yoshimi's body could channel the power for her. She grabbed her teacher's right hand. "Say 'our beautiful souls!'"

"Our beautiful souls?"

"WILL CRUSH YOUR EVIL HEART!" Nagisa yelled at the top of her lungs, letting out the power that had been building in her. The black energy exploded outwards with little direction, but it didn't matter. There was enough to cover the whole room at once. The Zakenna was vaporized instantly, and Honoka hit the floor with a thud. Nagisa ran forwards, ignoring her teacher's cries of alarm. "Please be okay, please be okay…" She practically threw her power into Honoka, examining her bones, her pulse, and her brain. Honoka was a bit bruised, but otherwise thankfully okay. Nagisa laughed in relief, feeling a little lightheaded.

Miss Yoshimi walked up to them. "What's going on? Why is Mr. Yuuichi dressed like that? Why are you two dressed like that? What was that explosion?"

Nagisa held up her hand, remembering that Honoka had said something about waking up every ten minutes. "Just wait. I'm not good at explaining. The Queen of Knowledge will wake up soon and explain _everything_." _Maybe it's a good idea to have a teacher know anyways. She can make excuses for us while we're busy heroing! And give us fewer assignments…_

Miss Yoshimi crossed her arms. "You're the class representative. That means that all of this is your responsibility, and I want you to explain this. Otherwise… I'll having you cleaning the classroom every week until graduation!"

"Uh… really, I don't know where to begin, and of us, Knowledge Queen is-"

"Stop calling her that, Nagisa! I know you know better than to pick on other students!"

"She doesn't mind! It's… a nickname! Yeah!"

Miss Yoshimi glared at her. "I'm not stupid, Nagisa."

Nagisa shook her head. "I know you're not! That's why I want to wait until she wakes up, which will be soon! Because she's smarter than me and can explain stuff good!"

"Well. She can explain stuff well."

"Please just wait?"

"Fine! I'll wait. But she better have a good explanation."

* * *

"That is the most ridiculous explanation I've ever heard," Miss Yoshimi muttered.

Honoka shrugged. "Whether or not you believe it doesn't change that it is fact."

Miss Yoshimi sighed. "No, I do believe it. I almost hate myself for believing it, but there's no other explanation I can think of for what Nagisa did. I'm going to go back to class and… I don't know." She walked towards the door, kicking the prone body of Pissard as she went.

The pair sat on the floor, looking at each other. "So…" Nagisa began.

"How'd you save me?"

"I tried to use the Marble Screw, but the black lightning wouldn't stop coming down. I thought I was going to explode or something, so I made Miss Yoshimi say your words. There wasn't any white lightning, but it caused a huge explosion."

Honoka nodded. "Even if you couldn't use Mipple's power of Light, you could use someone else to release your own. That was smart."

"Not… really. My powers told me that she could do it, and I was pretty scared."

Honoka looked up suddenly. "Your powers told you?"

"Yeah. I could feel you getting crushed, and then I wanted to release the power before I melted, and then I felt Miss Yoshimi and knew she could help."

Honoka held her chin in her hand. "I see. That's why fairies can't transform. To release the power of Light, you need the power of Rainbows. And what you do with your power is sense the power of Rainbows."

"Really? That's what this is?"

Honoka's face contorted suddenly. "What kind of person are you that you can effectively sense other people's souls?"

"Uh… let's talk about that later," Nagisa said uncomfortably. "What did you do to pissant?"

Honoka reached down to pull out the gem she had grabbed. "I pulled this off of him. I don't know what it is."

Mipple jumped out and turned into her fairy form. "That's a Prism Stone!"

Mepple came out as well. "We found one-mepo!"

The diamond shifted into a heart shape and Honoka dropped it, surprised. Mepple picked it up. "You said that this guy had it-mepo?"

Honoka grabbed it from Mepple. "Okay, I know exactly why he had it. Mipple, you said that the Dark consumes things, right?"

"Yes-mipo?"

"The power of Light, if I've reasoned correctly, is the power of Life itself. That's why it doesn't destroy anything but the Darkness to use the Marble Screw, and why the Prism Stones are the way they are. A person cannot live if the only thing in them is the power of Darkness. It would consume them instantly. Pissard was alive because this, a stone of life, was attached to him."

Nagisa's eyes widened. "Then… we just killed someone?"

Honoka sighed. "It was a battle. With magic. I know it's supposed to be wrong to kill and everything, but this guy knew where our school was, was attacking our teacher, and wanted to kill us. It'd be wrong not to kill him in this situation."

Mepple wandered over to where Pissard was laying. "I don't think he's dead-mepo."

The pair got up and walked over to him. Honoka nudged him with her foot. "What do you mean? It looks like a corpse to me."

"I mean he's not dead-mepo! The power of Dark is still in him. He's still alive-mepo."

Mipple wore a horrified face. "He's trapped in there-mipo!"

Nagisa was confused. "What do you mean he's trapped? We haven't put him in a box or anything."

Honoka thought about it. "A person isn't a body. A person is a mind who wears a body. Perhaps a person from the Dark Zone is a spirit who isn't supposed to have a body, like a Zakenna? And now he's trapped in one and can't move… or see… or feel anything?"

"Yes-mipo! We should return him to the Dark Zone immediately-mipo!"

Nagisa was horrified as well. "How do we free him?"

Honoka grabbed her hand. "The same way we 'free' Zakenna from whatever they're in."

"BLACK THUNDEEEEER!"

* * *

Pissard sighed, taking in the familiar sights of the Dark Zone. _At least they did not bury me in the ground… though it would be a better punishment than whatever the Dark King comes up with._ He floated along, following the chains until he came to where they met. _My King._

The Dark King glared down at him. **"You failed."**

 _I did._

" **You were to get the stones, not lose the one you had."**

 _It was an accident._

A feminine voice came from behind. "Perhaps it wouldn't have happened if you wore the stone in a more sensible place." His four siblings had gathered to witness his fall, then.

" **Pissard, this is unacceptable. I thought, at least, that if you failed you would at least return with the stone you had. I regret that thought."**

 _I understand, my King. What punishment am I to go through?_

The Dark King's baleful eyes narrowed. **"At least you understand that much. I consign you to the Dark. Be gone, and die alone where you can do no more harm."**

Pissard left, to forever wander the Dark Zone until he was consumed by it. The Dark King turned to the remaining four. **"Poisonny, I have always respected your mind. I give you the power of Dark and these three under you. What will you do with them?"**

Poisonny calculated her next actions based on the resources she was given. "Kiriya will infiltrate their school to learn more about them. If he stays long enough they may even come to trust him. Gekidrago will act as their next foe, to test their power and to give them the illusion of accomplishment. Ilkubo… do you have any particular wish?"

Ilkubo shook his head. "I simply wish to be there. I am content to be backup."

Poisonny frowned. "You have the strongest connection to the Dark power. It would be wasteful of you to be mere backup."

"Are you suggesting that you cannot complete the job with three people?" he asked, incredulous.

Poisonny thought about it. "Maybe. You will come if one of us is no longer able to fight?"

"For your sake, you had better hope it does not come to that, but yes, I will."

Poisonny nodded. "Then it's fine, I suppose. If nothing else you can surprise them."

"What exactly am I supposed to learn, big sis?" Kiriya asked, annoyed.

"Who they are, how they think, how they react to various stimuli, if there are hostages we can take, their lifestyles and patterns of movement… It may take some time to be trusted enough that they allow you to follow them, but when you are, that's when the three of us will strike together. The additional shock of your betrayal should push the battle fully in our favor, depending of course on their level of skill."

"May I ask how I'm supposed to learn about them when according to Pissard, the boys go to a different building than the girls?"

"Use your imagination."


	4. Chapter 4

Nagisa jumped to the right as a colorful ball of light shot past her. The odd feeling of the sphere being _the Knowledge Queen_ had at least let her avoid it. "Man, if you get any more ridiculous powers the Dark Zone doesn't have a chance."

Honoka responded by lifting a series of basketballs and bouncing them at her partner. "I don't want to hear that. Optimism isn't going to help us. Only practice."

Nagisa leaped forwards and jumped off of a basketball, aiming a kick at Honoka. "Can't I say something without you being so… combative?" she asked as Honoka sprang back.

"Only if you stop being Wrong."

Honoka attempted to use telekinesis on Nagisa's leg. Unfortunately for the white-dressed girl, Nagisa could _see_ the strange tendrils of power and moved out of the way in the half-second it took for them to reach her. Nagisa smiled at Honoka's annoyed face. "I'm sorry, were you trying to grab me there?"

Instead of talking, Honoka's eyes narrowed, and Nagisa saw several tendrils reach out. Imagining a series of maneuvers, Nagisa avoided each string Honoka had sent, coming to a stop in front of her. "Well hi."

Honoka responded by punching her in the stomach. "If you have time to be flippant you have time to block." She then fell asleep, landing on the doubled-over Nagisa.

Nagisa struggled. "You know, with these weird feelings and this… new sight thingy, you'd think I'd be able to see it when you're about to fall over," she grumbled. "But noooo. I only know when you are asleep, not when you're about to. How many times does this make it?"

Mepple spoke up from the sidelines. "Seven. Though I think this counts as her win-mepo."

Mipple nodded. "I agree! With a score of four to three, Honoka wins-mipo!"

Nagisa groaned. "I can't believe this!"

* * *

Yoshimi stood outside the door of the gym, where the Cures were practicing with their abilities. It had been four days since she had learned of the existence of magic, and it got harder and harder to stay calm every day. The number of things that concerned her increased the more she involved herself.

First were Honoka and Nagisa. The two had gained magical powers and were on a quest to fend off the literal forces of darkness. Said forces had nearly killed Honoka in their last fight. She would've had words with those two stuffed-animal-cell-phone things about it, except for that Honoka and Nagisa treated it like a big joke. That had made her cry inside. They were only children, seventh graders. Hadn't she become a teacher to guide and protect kids like them? And yet when danger came along, they practically laughed at it. They didn't need protecting. They had had to protect her.

Second were Rina and Shiho. They were in on this whole business, and were friends of Nagisa (Honoka had no friends that Yoshimi knew of, the poor girl). Shiho was a gossip who always acted cheerfully, while Rina was a subscriber of smug above-it-all behavior. When they had learned that Yoshimi had joined in knowing the secret, they persisted in giving her knowing looks and writing messages to her, talking about boys, clothes, deserts, or whatever else they fancied. She had become a teacher to teach them, not befriend them, and it made her a little uncomfortable that they were treating her like a friend, especially when she knew they weren't doing the same for Honoka.

Third was being asked by Nagisa to play chaperone to all four of them. Yes, she was an adult, yes, she cared about their safety, no, she couldn't think of anything she could do if she was in the same situation as four days ago. It terrified her to be so powerless, and it made her horrified that these people had enough power to control minds. She wasn't sure if she could trust anyone ever again. Who knew if there was a Dark agent among them, ready to take advantage of her?

But she couldn't say no. They were still children. She would help them with little things, like standing guard outside the gym while they practiced, or covering for their other teachers when problems inevitably arose. But the more they included her, the more paranoid she felt. She hoped her nerves were up to the challenge, and she hoped that the children wouldn't do anything too dangerous.

It was bad to be a teacher and fear for a student's life.

* * *

Later, the pair settled down in Honoka's room.

"So what are we supposed to do with this?" Nagisa asked, holding up Pissard's Prism Stone.

"Put it in the Prism Hopeish."

Honoka frowned. "Why haven't I heard about this?"

Mipple's eyebrows jumped. "Oooh! Right-mipo. Well, it's the Prism Stones' normal container, and it's protected by a Guardian! I don't know how he protects it or if the Hopeish has special powers, just that holding more than one Prism Stone is dangerous so the Hopeish holds them for us-mipo."

Nagisa looked between the two. "Uh… what just happened?"

Mepple seemed uneasy. "Mipple? Why did you say all that-mepo?"

Honoka crossed her arms. "Just because you want to be cagey with your information doesn't mean I have to put up with it! And once Mipple saw what I could do with the information, she agreed to tell me everything she could!"

Mipple nodded. "Honoka is very smart-mipo! I told her about the Garden of Light and she told me how it could be better protected-mipo!"

"It has me! I'm the chosen warrior-mepo!" Mepple said agitatedly.

Honoka was bemused. "One warrior to protect an entire subdimension or existential plane or universe? No matter what the Garden of Light is, it's obvious it needs something greater than a ceremonial soldier. I have to wonder why, if your Queen knew about the Dark Zone, she decided to basically not defend her realm. Yeah, I know you can't use the power of Light the way we can, but she could have asked us or other humans to come there. Most humans would jump at a chance for immortality. I must conclude that either there is something _really_ wrong with your Queen, she can see the future and knows that humans couldn't protect you there, or she can't bring humans there. I asked Mipple, and the Queen can bring humans there. I asked some more, and while you have prophecies they're so vague that it's impossible to get anything conclusive from them. That leaves one possibility."

"There is something wrong with the Queen-mipo," Mipple said sadly.

Mepple was shocked. "But… she and the elder wouldn't just… _let_ the Dark Zone invade-mepo!"

Nagisa was thinking. "Maybe there's too many spirits from the Dark Zone to fight off?"

Honoka shook her head. "That makes no sense. Sooner or later we're going to have to go there and get rid of them. The only other option is to sit here and let the Dark Zone consume the place, and that's not going to happen. So why not go there at the start and improve the Garden of Light's defenses _before_ the Dark Zone attacks? That way we'd have all of the Prism Stones defended better. The war could've been on our terms, but instead a princess and her boyfriend are given two stones and sent to get help from the humans only _after_ the damage was almost too much to handle. The only way the current reality makes sense is if the leadership is incompetent, insane, or on the side of Darkness. I'm only willing to dismiss the third option because if that were the case none of the Prism Stones would've escaped the Garden of Light."

Mepple looked almost ashamed. "How… how can this be-mepo…"

Honoka shrugged. "I don't know, but now it's too late. Where do we find the Hopeish?"

"Mepple has it-mipo!"

"Er… about that-mepo…"

* * *

Kiriya was rather displeased when he reported into Poisonny. "Yes, I can join the boy's school. Unfortunately, it will take at least another week before I can submit my application because I have to set up a fake past."

"And why is that? From what I've seen students just join a school without needing to explain themselves," Poisonny said.

"Because applying to a middle school, especially in the middle of a semester, means they fill out paperwork with my name, address, phone number, parents' names, previous school, and at least four other things. None of which I actually have except my name."

"What about hypnotizing them?"

"I'm no good at that, and even if I was, _somebody_ would figure it out. It might work for a few days, but humans love to dig into each other's lives. And since we're trying to be sneaky, I can't hypnotize everyone."

Poisonny held her head. "Fine. In the meantime, have you figured out anything?"

"The girl's classes are going on a trip to an art museum tomorrow and the day after. The Cures are going tomorrow."

"I see. Plenty of things for a Zakenna to possess, though knowing Gekidrago he may simply try to punch them to death."

Kiriya smirked. He always felt better when mocking someone. "What a simpleton."

"No. He merely puts the Dark power he receives into himself. At the very least it will stop these Cures from destroying his body with a single use of Light power."

Kiriya rolled his eyes and began to walk away. "I'm pretty sure he just likes to punch things."

* * *

Nagisa was walking towards her apartment. "Why would you even lose something that important?"

"I was flying through the air, and on fire! I was shocked-mepo!"

Nagisa opened the door. "You held onto the cards, didn't you?" She walked past her brother, Ryouta, surprising him, and headed up the stairs.

"Those were magically sealed in a ball!"

"Then why wasn't the Hopeish sealed with them?!" She headed past her mom's room, unaware of the attention she was attracting.

"I don't know-mepo! I was too shocked to pay attention to it!"

Nagisa entered her room and set her stuff down. "It's lucky that you at least remember where you _might_ have dropped it. We'll look around for that lake of yours… after our trip tomorrow. Damn it, I still have to make a partner list for that."

Glad that the topic had changed, Mepple sighed with relief. Bad enough that Mipple was angry at him, but he had to live with Nagisa.

Outside the room, Ryouta and Nagisa's mom both listened at the door before staring at each other. "Sis always talked to herself before, but this is just weird."

"Yeah, I'm worried. She's never had a real _conversation_ with herself. If this doesn't stop soon, I'm going to take her to a doctor."

Ryouta and Nagisa fought often, but he still cared about her. "I hope she's okay."

"Me too, me too."

* * *

Gekidrago loved to punch things. It didn't matter what it was. If he swung his fist and the things became pieces of things, he loved it. His indestructible skin could hold its own against stone and could not be pierced by glass or steel. His great size made him slightly clumsy but his strength more than made up for it. That's why he was always looking for a challenge. The greater and tougher the thing to break, the more fun it was to break. And Poisonny had just asked him to break a pair of girls. Children, no less. "Why?"

"Because they are defending three Prism Stones."

"Doesn't sound that fun."

"They're Pretty Cure. They defeated Pissard."

"Doesn't sound that fun."

"They're why we're here to begin with!"

"Then make it sound fun."

Poisonny threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! They're going to a museum! There's plenty of people and things to break there! Break them all if you want, but make sure you break the girls at least!"

"…Sounds fun."

* * *

The next day, Nagisa followed Honoka to the bus. "Why did he have to drop it? We're never going to find it."

"Please stop talking about that. I don't know if you're asking me these things or talking to yourself, but we don't have the ability to worry about it right now and another day will not make a difference."

"Ah, don't mind me," the Principal said, rushing in front of them. "I just love art."

"Yes, this is a unique opportunity!" the Vice Principal piped up. "Art is amazing!" They both hurried on.

Nagisa glanced at Miss Yoshimi, who looked as dumbfounded as she felt. "Do we just let them…?"

Miss Yoshimi nodded. "I just hope they won't make any trouble…"

The bus started, and Honoka sat down. Nagisa, however, had a job to do. She handed out a series of handmade planners to each pair of students. "Okay, guys, listen up." She looked around, seeing that she had the full, undivided attention of at least half the girls. _Oh come on. I don't swing that way. I like boys. Take a hint already._ "Today we're going to a European art exhibition at the art museum. It's got famous artists like Leo Da Vinci, Mannet, Degass, and… Ren-oy-er on display."

Rina smirked. "Nice drawings, Nagisa."

Nagisa put her hands on her hips. "You be quiet!"

Rina held her hands up, making zip, lock, and throw-away-the-key motions. Shiho giggled, but didn't say anything about Nagisa's cutesy attempts at drawing.

Nagisa nodded, holding up her own planner. "There are other things too, so enjoy yourselves. Make sure you at least _try_ to stay with the group, but if you get lost, you can meet up back to the bus. Also, try to stay with your partner, too."

A girl up front raised her hand. "Excuse me…"

"Yes?"

She stood up. "Compared to Da Vinci, he's not as well known, but there's a painting by Mario Piccarini that I love."

"Um… Piccarini?"

"Yes! Everyone should take a look at it! It's called 'Dinner Party at Stardust' and it's wonderful! It's the first time it's been in Japan. Piccarini was an Italian artist one hundred years ago, the third son of a poor farmer. He was clumsy unlike his brothers, and while on the farm, he kept painting and eventually got recognized. I like that simplicity…"

Shiho couldn't help herself. "Ooh, snap! The Queen of Knowledge got knocked down a peg!"

Honoka glared at the cheerful redhead. "Very kindly stop pretending that I'm omniscient."

Rina shrugged. "We will if you will."

Yoshimi loudly snapped her fingers. "Behave yourselves!" The three of them went quiet, but the girl in front kept talking.

"I'm really into his art and stuff, that's all…"

Shiho, bored with the topic of some long-dead artist, asked a question of utmost importance. "Say, Mayu, did you change your hair? It looks like Nagisa's!"

Mayu hesitated and blushed. "Well… er…" She turned on her heel. "I always thought you were cool!" she blurted.

Nagisa froze, looking around the bus. Some of the girls were smiling very Rina-like smiles. Some of the girls were glaring at Mayu. Yoshimi seemed concerned. The Principal and Vice Principal weren't paying attention. And Honoka was looking at the scene as if Mayu was a particularly interesting bug. Nagisa hated confessions, and this was probably the worst one she'd received, in front of all her classmates. Unless that statement was platonic. But with her luck, what were the odds of that? "Um… thanks."

Mayu almost jumped forwards at that. "You're welcome!" she said, all smiles.

Nagisa sighed and ruminated. _I don't think she meant it platonically at all._

* * *

Honoka followed Nagisa into the museum. "I'm only saying that it would be interesting to observe a lesbian relationship, as I've never seen one form."

Nagisa, fed up with being attractive to girls, restrained herself from hitting her partner. "Then why don't you start one? I'm sure you can find some girl willing to have you."

"I can't do that. It would taint my data."

"Data this." She flipped the Knowledge Queen off.

"You are upset."

"No, really? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Your middle finger."

"That was sarcasm!"

"I know. The best way to defeat time-wasting sarcasm is with literalness."

Nagisa held her arms out and looked imploringly at the sky, only to see a great stained glass ceiling above. "Whoa. Check this out."

The class, as a whole, looked up, and Honoka smiled a rare dazzling smile. "That's pretty."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that. I almost expected you to point out how stupid art is, or something."

"No, art I understand. A reflection of creativity and views of reality. You can understand someone very well just by seeing what they've made from their mind's eye. That's one reason it's so pretty."

While they were talking, a group of students looked at a painting. "Hey, class rep! What's this picture?"

Nagisa walked over to them. "How am I supposed to know?"

Honoka read the label. "Dance at Bougival, by Renoir, in 1883. Renoir was… an Impressionist, I believe."

One of the girls nodded, but otherwise ignored her. Mepple took that moment to make noise. "Hey, hey!"

Suddenly, Nagisa was being stared at by two or three groups. "Um, that's my ringtone. I'll be right back." She ran off, with Honoka in tow. When she had gone around two corners, and found no one else around, she pulled Mepple out. " _What._ "

"I want to see Mipple!"

"Look, I told you, you can be awake because we need to be able to transform, but you need to keep quiet. You can't selfishly ask for everything you want and expect to get it."

"But Mipple is right there-mepo! I can see Mipple, right-mepo?"

Mipple jumped out of Honoka's pocket and transformed. "Mepple!"

Mepple transformed, but Nagisa held on. "No! Bad Mepple. No girlfriend for you!"

Honoka picked Mipple up. "Could you please restrain yourself? We're in a public place right now. I'd rather not have to explain fairies to a dozen random strangers."

Mipple looked up. "Oh-mipo? I'm sorry. Please let me know when we're in a good place-mipo." She turned back into a phone.

Nagisa looked on in awe. "How…?"

"Nagisa! They are sentient beings! Just talk to him!"

"I have! He doesn't listen to me! He's like a little kid."

Honoka assessed what she knew of Mepple. "You're right, I'm sorry. I should not expect mature behavior from a person who's basically been raised to believe he's a special hero of some sort and given everything he wants. Perhaps we should correct this obvious failure of the Queen's."

Mepple continued struggling. "What are you talking about-mepo? Let me go-mepo!"

Honoka held out her hands, and Nagisa handed Mepple to her. "Mipple, I'm sorry for asking you to shift forms again, but we'll need you for this."

Mipple transformed again. "What is going on-mipo? What are you doing to Mepple?"

Honoka held the yellow fairy out. "We need to talk some sense into him. Nagisa, what else has he done?"

"He won't stay quiet at my house. He asks Omupu to put away meals he's just cooked just because he wants something different. He'll interrupt me constantly asking to be fed. Whenever I say something it's as if he's hearing an entirely different conversation. He's tried to bribe me with praise pretty often, though it doesn't work. Basically whenever he's not around Mipple he's gluttonous, selfish, and arrogant."

Mipple blinked. "Mepple?"

"It's not true. Nagisa is just being mean-mepo."

Honoka waved Mepple around. "Lying is bad for you. We're going to get this sorted out right now. Mipple, please help us?"

"I… I'm not sure-mipo…" Her head tilted.

Mepple smiled. "Oh, Mipple!"

Mipple looked down at the ground. "How would I help?"

Mepple's smile dropped instantly. "Mipple?"

Honoka nodded. "Your boyfriend has some bad habits. We know that he enjoys spending time with you, but we may have to reserve that for when he's been good. I know you want to spend time with him too, but he needs to get over these bad habits before he gets someone hurt."

Mipple wore an unpleasant face. "I… see-mipo. Well… if it's you, Honoka… I trust you-mipo." She turned to Mepple. "Mepple, you listen to them for your own good-mipo!"

"But… but… oh mepo." He turned back into his smaller shape.

Nagisa sighed with relief. "Maybe I won't be woken up tomorrow by him whining for food."

Honoka shook her head. "It'll take awhile to rework his habits. He's spent thousands of years like this."

"Oh yeah. I always forget that they've lived so long."

"It's this picture-mipo!" Mipple shouted.

The two turned to see Mipple in front of a picture of a boy watching a meteor shower. "What about it?" Nagisa asked.

Honoka read the label. "Dinner Party at Stardust, by Mario Piccarini, in 1904."

Mipple smiled. "He painted this picture, before I fell asleep."

Nagisa blinked, looked at Mepple, and then the painting. "The meteor shower! Mepple came down in a meteor shower too!"

Honoka examined the painting. "So you came here one hundred years ago?"

Mipple smiled. "It must be so-mipo."

"Why did you and Mepple come so far apart?"

"Time moves differently in the Gardens. He was supposed to come a day later-mipo."

Honoka did some mental math. _One day=One hundred years. One hour=Roughly four years. One minute=…Twenty days? One second=…Eight hours._ "Okay, so every eight hours for us is one second over there. Which means we're in no real hurry to save the Garden of Light. But it does mean that when we're over there we should hurry as fast as possible since an hour over there is four years here."

Nagisa boggled. "If we have to fight off the Dark Zone it might take longer than that!"

Honoka nodded. "Which means we should try to beat them as much as possible before going there."

Nagisa held her head in her hands. "I can't believe this…"

Honoka thought about it some more. "Mipple says she's three-thousand five-hundred and two. That means, in our time… she's… one-hundred twenty-seven million years old. She's been around since the dinosaurs. And for her, humans started existing… one-hundred sixty years ago."

Nagisa held her hands out. "Stop. Just… stop. I can handle magic, and fairies, and evil creatures, and all that, but I can't handle time or math."

"Oh, Nagisa! And… Honoka. I was wondering where you went!" Mayu said. Mipple quickly turned back into a phone, jumping into Honoka's pocket.

Nagisa put on a smile. "Oh, hi Mayu. We were just… looking at this painting."

"Oh! It's the Piccarini! The one I was talking about!"

"So it is…"

"And this one's a self-portrait." She turned to a picture of a man with an enormous green hat. "As a child he had a weak body and failed often. One day he sat beneath the stars and wished on a shooting star for talent. One of them hit him in the head, and from that day forwards he was inspired!"

Nagisa looked down at Mepple. "Must run in the family or something."

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

"…Anyways, after that, he kept painting and painting until he realized that he was well-known around the world!"

"You really know your stuff."

"I love it! I've done so much research on him…"

Honoka seemed intrigued. "What kind of research leads to this information?"

Mayu laughed. "Looking in old books, searching online, of course. But also going to Italy and talking to people who had known him when he was older. There's only a few of them left, but they had all sorts of stories to tell."

Honoka smiled. "Personal experience over secondhand information. Always the best way to research."

"I just wish I could've met him myself."

The wall behind them exploded inwards. "Ungah!" A huge man with a short mohawk had just punched his way into the room. "You…? Poi said to break you! So break you I will!" He jumped forwards, lashing out and hitting Mayu, who flew backwards.

Honoka growled. "What did you just do, you bastard?"

"Break! Crush! Rend limb from limb! That is the way of Gekidrago!" He jumped forwards again, breaking several statues as Honoka stumbled to the side.

"Swipe the card!" Honoka shouted, pulling the Queen out of her uniform pocket and swiping it as quickly as she could. Nagisa nodded, pulling her Queen out of a similar easy-to-reach place and swiping it.

While they were glowing with the power of Light, Gekidrago attempted to attack them and was blown back into a wall. Nagisa finished their speech, pointing at him. "Return to the Darkness from which you came! Hey, I actually pointed at an enemy this time!"

Honoka rolled her eyes. "Okay, we gotta defeat this guy before he hits anyone else." _Observations: Opponent is strong. Opponent has stated his goals as "break, smash, crush." Opponent is fast, powerful, but likely stupid. He can swat us aside easily, like with Mayu, but may not have access to Zakenna. Which is good because there's a ton of things in here that could hurt us. Analysis: Probably can't wear him out, probably can't trap him for long. I can't see his Prism Stone, so I can't just grab it. Only likely way to defeat him is magically, the one way in which he doesn't seem powerful in._ "We're going to have to hit with the power of Rainbows or the power of Light to defeat him. I think he's too strong for anything else."

Nagisa frowned. "So… Find a way to earn thirty seconds for the Pretty Cure Marble Screw."

Honoka nodded. "We might be able to knock him down for enough time. You take the front, I'll try to hit him with telekinesis."

"Right!" Nagisa ran forwards, imagining a powerful kick that would leverage her full body strength. She jumped up, did a flip, and kicked Gekidrago in the head. The man grunted and tried to swat her out of the air, but his fist bounced off a shimmering barrier.

"Rainbows?" He grabbed the shimmering shield and yanked hard, which caused Honoka to fall forwards. She did a roll and then mind-yanked as hard as she could on Gekidrago's outstretched arm. Nagisa landed and punched his stomach, but even with the two working together, Gekidrago didn't flinch. He kneed Nagisa into a wall, then grabbed her and threw her at Honoka. The girls ended up in a sprawled pile, and Gekidrago jumped high.

Honoka tried to breathe, to think, but her mind remained blank. It was up to Nagisa to grab her and run through the halls as Gekidrago smashed the floor and ran after them. "Okay, Knowledge Queen, now would be a good time to do something clever!"

Honoka coughed several times. "I've got… an idea. But I may have used too much power…"

"Doesn't matter! I can't stop running and we're headed to where there's more people!"

Honoka nodded. "Let me grab you with Rainbows."

As Gekidrago ran into the room at full speed, Honoka threw Nagisa at his legs, causing him to fall on his face with great force. "Grawnagh!"

Honoka ran forwards and stepped on the man's back, using her strength and her powers to keep him down. "Now," she gasped.

Nagisa ran forwards and grabbed Honoka's hand. "BLACK THUNDEEEEER!"

"WHITE THUNDEEEEER!"

The streams of electricity fell down in their hands, and the girls began to glow. Honoka panted from the effort of holding their enemy down. "Our beautiful souls…" she slumped, falling asleep.

"Shall crush your evil heart! Pretty Cure Marble Screw!" Nagisa finished, alarmed as Gekidrago shoved them away and Honoka's arm flopped around.

The beam went wild, striking the walls and ceiling. They managed to coincidentally hit Gekidrago and shove him upwards through the ceiling, but the next moment they were shooting the floor. "Knowledge Queeeeeen! We gotta stop! Stop it! Stop the ride, I wanna get off!" Finally, the beam petered out. Nagisa looked around at some broken paintings and the hole in the ceiling, then finally at her sleeping partner. "I don't think we can explain this one. Mepple, Mipple? Is there something you can do about these things?"

Mipple's head popped out of her pouch. "I don't think so-mipo. We can't fix rocks and paper."

Nagisa sighed. "Okay, do you sense that guy we were fighting?"

Mepple shook his head. "No-mepo. You must have knocked him clear of the area."

Nagisa stopped concentrating on the power of Light, and the next instant, her and Honoka's clothes had reverted to their uniforms. "I think… we can say a wild animal was in here or something. And that Honoka hit her head, and that Mayu… Mayu!"

Nagisa picked Honoka up and ran back down the hall, trying to remember where the Piccarini had been. She stopped when she recognized the falling stars, then looked around, trying to find her classmate. "Mayu? Are you there?" She looked at the Piccarini again and froze. "THE HELL?!"

The painting had changed. Mayu was now sitting next to the boy, watching the stars. "She got sucked into the painting! What am I supposed to do now? Knowledge Queen, wake up!" She shook the blue-head, but got no response. She let go and attempted to use her powers, but only felt a little sick. She didn't know why. Honoka used small bits of telekinesis all the time when they were alone and untransformed. Why couldn't _she_ use Rainbow powers unless she was transformed? "Come on, come on! Girl got stuck in a painting! Have no idea what to do! Wake up!" She tried to use the power of Rainbows once again, and felt even more ill. "Get up already!

"She's not waking up-mepo!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Nagisa grumbled. "Damn. She was kind of annoying sometimes, but Mayu was kind of nice in her own way. I didn't want her dead. Not to mention Miss Yoshimi's going to kill me. No, wait, there's something I haven't tried." Scrunching her face as hard as she could, she turned her attention to the painting. "All I want to know is if she's alive." She repeated that to herself several times, but she only felt more and more sick and irritated. "This isn't working. Try something else?" She tried holding her hands to her head and repeating, "alive, alive," in her head. That didn't work either, and she was only feeling more awful by the second. She placed her hand on Mayu and pounded on the painting. "Mayu, damn it, COME OUT!"

With a burst of color and a strange sensation in her brain, Mayu and the boy in the painting fell on her. "Ah, whyyyy?"

Mayu looked up. "Uh, Nagisa?"

The boy looked up as well and started saying something that Nagisa didn't understand. Mayu turned to him and replied in his language. Then she turned to her classmate and asked, "Um, he wants to know if this is a dream? And I sort of do too."

Nagisa pulled herself out from under the two, but didn't answer. Instead she looked at her hands. "You know, you could have been more helpful earlier!" Her hands didn't reply. "That's what I thought!"

Honoka took that moment to wake up. "Uhhh… huh?" Her sleepiness faded instantly. "What happened?"

* * *

Yoshimi wanted to yell, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Mayu had come back searching for Nagisa and Honoka with a boy who was dressed in post-industrial-age European clothes and spoke Italian. Art in at least three rooms had been damaged, as had parts of the walls and the ceiling. Nagisa had claimed that an animal had gotten in, but didn't say anything about their new member. Yoshimi suspected that whoever the boy was, it was a long story involving the forces of Dark and Light. And Mayu… Mayu was constantly hugging him, whispering things in Italian. Couldn't the world make sense for once?

Yoshimi sighed, and began to spread Nagisa's cover story around. Hopefully the school wouldn't have to pay for this.

* * *

Behind the building, Honoka leaned against the wall, trying to keep her emotions in check. She wanted to punch Nagisa in the face. The redhead had broken an even more fundamental concept than magic had for her. After all, magic was simply an addition to the physics that she already knew. It didn't directly contradict fundamental logic. "So, that's Piccarini."

"Mario," Mayu responded.

"Right, Mario Piccarini. Part of the painting Mayu was trapped in?"

"Yeah, don't know how she got in there."

"Obviously some combination of her wish from earlier and Dark power. If I ever figure out exactly what happened I'll let you know, but that's not important right now. The problem is that you brought someone to life."

"Um… but it's Piccarini."

"Yes! Piccarini, who died like forty years ago! Piccarini, who you know almost nothing about! And yet, despite those things, you basically materialized him from a painting!"

"…I guess?"

"That makes no sense! You should not be able to create a sentient being who has memories, talents, or information that you do not have! And yet, Mayu says she's learned new things from him! What did you do?!"

"I used my powers?"

Honoka put her hands to her head, rubbing her temples. "This is wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to explain. The moral implications. The logical implications. The magical implications. Oh God, the magical implications. You know, I even wondered what you could do, when I discovered the power of Rainbows? But if I knew then that you'd do this, I'd probably have taken Mepple from you and run!"

"Hey! I know this isn't the best thing ever, but it's really not that bad! We'll have to hide him, but…"

"No! There's no hiding this! You brought someone from the nineteen hundreds one hundred years into the future! He has no valid paperwork, no way to explain this without seeming crazy, and no understanding of how the world works now! This is freaking _impossible!_ "

Mayu raised her hand. "Then can you send him back? I don't entirely know what's going on, but…"

Nagisa turned to her. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Plus it's not that simple. It'd basically be killing him, since a painting can't think."

Nagisa snapped her fingers. "No, but Mayu was in that painting too. And she could think."

"She was in the painting! She was dead and you brought her back to life!"

Nagisa shook her head. "No, that's not quite right. Mayu, what do you remember from that?"

Mayu hugged Mario closer. "Um, I saw him get hit in the head by a meteor, and we talked a little bit… and then we were in the museum."

Nagisa smiled at Honoka. "You see? Just fine!"

Honoka fell to the ground. This was far too much for her to handle. "Do… whatever you want. I just… I can't… Just let me think." Nagisa nodded, and the three left to find Piccarini's painting.

Mipple leapt out of Honoka's pocket. "Are you okay-mipo?"

"No, I am not."

Mipple grabbed Honoka's hand. "Why not?"

Honoka looked the fairy in the eyes. "I don't understand a lot of things. Certain kinds of physics. How the brain works. The wasteful lives people live. But that… that! That was the first time that I haven't understood something that was _dangerous to not understand_. I'm scared like I've never been before. Nagisa has a power that transcends fundamental principles of logic and physics that I don't think anyone has a right to mess with. And I can't figure out how she did it."

Mipple sat and put crossed her arms. "Her power of Rainbows is to see other powers of Rainbows, but perhaps it's more than that-mipo," she started thoughtfully.

"You have an idea?"

"The power of Rainbows is the power of the human spirit."

"Yes, a power representative of your very essence of self."

"Yes-mipo! But the power of Rainbows is usually expressed as feelings in whatever humans do. And don't you put your feelings into paintings?"

"What-" Honoka began, but her mind was grinding into overdrive. _Mipple believes that the power of Rainbows is in a painting because we put feelings into them. That is too simplistic. No, the fundamental principle of the power of Rainbows that I have just learned is that Rainbows are given off like some sort of exhaust. And the longer something exhausts in one place, the more of that thing's exhaust permeates the area. A painting is something that requires lots of time to paint. So… Piccarini permeates that painting._

 _Meanwhile, Nagisa can see and feel this 'exhaust.' She was thinking of Mayu and Piccarini at the time, and Mayu's sense of self had ended up in that painting somehow, likely Gekidrago's fault. Nagisa felt the exhaust, and pulled on it, materializing bodies to hold them._

… _Violating Conservation of Mass. But I know why she can do that. It's got nothing to do with magic inherently violating physics. Rather, it's more like… I am a being of logic. I am restricted by certain rules because I believe they exist. Nagisa is not. Therefore she doesn't have to play by the rules._

 _And so Nagisa is more powerful than I am, because she is ignorant of what she can't do._

Honoka held up her arm in front of a questioning Mipple. "But the thing is, I now know that the power of Rainbows can do that. Therefore I know that I'm _not_ actually restricted by those rules. Which means…" Honoka materialized a sword, then fell asleep again, almost accidentally impaling herself.

It would later occur to her that the Law of Conservation of Mass only existed because no one knew of a way to create mass, not because it was impossible to.

* * *

The painting was now back to the way it was, and Nagisa had discovered what the problem was. If she wasn't transformed, she had to be touching whatever it was she wanted to use her powers on. It had taken some time to figure that out while Mayu had promised Mario she'd visit him. Hopefully she'd be able to practice so she could use it further away from her, like Honoka had practiced to stay awake longer.

She smiled to herself. "I really can use magic after all! Really cool magic too!"

"Is that what that is, Nagisa?" Mayu asked.

Nagisa really didn't like it when people listened to her talk to herself, but she only had herself to blame this time. "Um, yeah! Me and the Knowledge Queen can use magic!"

"That's so cool! Can you pull other things out of paintings?"

"Maybe! But Knowledge Queen will get mad at me…"

Mayu giggled. "You two… you know, you work very well together."

"Huh?"

"Even though she was angry with you, you were listening to every word she had to say. And why else would she, when she was angry with you, let you do something she didn't agree with? She trusts you."

"I suppose…"

Mayu sighed. "Well, you know… I won't get in the way of you two, okay? But let's be friends!" Smiling at a dumbfounded Nagisa, she ran to joint the rest of the class.

"But… I'm not…" Nagisa walked after her. "Okay, Nagisa, I guess it's time to prepare to answer Rina and Shiho about rumors of lesbianism. More Rina than Shiho, but still…"


	5. Chapter 5

The girls sat in the library, poring over books of maps with the fairies. "When I was above, there weren't all these scribbles-mepo."

"Well yeah, it's a map," Honoka replied. "Those 'scribbles' aren't there in real life."

"Oh. Um…"

While Honoka worked with Mepple, Nagisa talked to Mipple. "You know, I'm surprised you're not mad right now. You yelled very loudly at him when I left yesterday."

"I talked to Honoka about it-mipo. We agreed that yelling wasn't helpful-mipo."

Nagisa nodded. "So you two talk a lot?"

"Yes. Honoka's fun to talk with-mipo."

"That's surprising."

"Why is that-mipo?"

"Well, she's not really the nicest person."

Mipple giggled. "Sometimes-mipo. But when she's excited about something, she gets this gleam in her eye. That's when she's most herself-mipo."

"I don't know. When she gets excited she loses her marbles."

"Exactly-mipo!"

Nagisa shook her head, and Honoka came over to them. "We found it. Based on his trajectory and your house's location, there were only a limited amount of lakes that the Prism Hopeish could be near. I showed him pictures until we found this one." The picture she was showing them had a large, oval-shaped lake that ran into two rivers. "Kappa Yama Hyoutan Pond."

"And where is that exactly?"

"South."

* * *

Nagisa prepared to leave the house. "I'm going out, 'kay?"

Her mother smiled gently. "Going to have fun with Rina and Shiho?"

"No, it's another… friend."

This was news to her mother. "Oh? What kind of friend?"

"Could we do this later? I don't want to keep her waiting."

Her mom blinked. "I see. Perhaps you could invite her over sometime?"

 _I wonder what she'd say if she knew that Honoka had already been here._ "Yeah, maybe when we get back."

"Just be safe."

"I will, mom."

* * *

"Feel anything yet?" Nagisa asked.

"I'll feel it when I feel it-mepo!"

"Are you sure it's around here?"

Honoka tapped her shoulder. "Nagisa, stop asking questions."

"I'm just uneasy, that's all. We're climbing a mountain and everyone's so quiet."

"I realize."

"And it's a _mountain_. My legs are going to be sore tomorrow."

"You're athletic. You'll live."

"And we're not even sure if the Prism Hopeish is here!"

"Just be quiet and enjoy the scenery."

"What scen- ooh!" She had just noticed the lake. "That's really pretty!" She took a step towards the edge of the cliff they were on, and the rock below her feet broke. "Aaaaaah!" It took her a few moments to realize that Honoka had caught her with telekinesis. "Er… thanks."

"Nagisa, please stop trying to make a scene."

* * *

" **Why are you here, Gekidrago?"**

The large man kneeled. "My King, please give me more power."

" **Is the power I have given you not enough?"**

"No."

" **You realize what you ask? The Dark power is limited. There are things I cannot give you."**

"I want a Zakenna."

"…"

"And more of my true power."

" **Zakenna I can grant easily, but why would you want more of that power?"**

"They use power of Rainbows. A lot."

The Dark King paused, seemingly startled. Then he began laughing a long, deep, terrible laugh. **"Granted."**

* * *

The four wandered along a small stream. "Aaaaand he's asleep," Nagisa announced.

Mipple frowned. "Maybe I should reconsider him as my boyfriend."

"What? I thought you said you weren't angry at him."

"I'm angry-mipo. I'm just not yelling-mipo."

"I feel something-mepo," Mepple said sleepily.

Nagisa grinned. "Finally. Where is it?"

Mepple blinked. "It's coming towards us-mepo?"

The girls looked at each other, then looked around. Nagisa saw it first. "Um… there's a baby bear in the river."

Honoka looked over. "Seems trapped on a log. Probably won't live unless we help. Here, let me…" She lifted it from the log with her power and put it on the ground. "I can't help but note that this isn't a Prism Hopeish."

"Er, sorry-mepo."

"No, it's actually fine. Today we've learned that your ability to sense the power of Light can be distracted by bears."

"I said I'm sorry-mepo."

"It seems to me that a power that's so easily distracted by even something nonhuman is not a particularly useful power."

"I get it-mepo. I get it."

"The question is why it'd be distracted by a bear. A bear's not Dark. Or Light. Or particularly Rainbowy. And I'm not being mean right now. I really want to know why a bear would do that."

Nagisa raised her hand, then put it down. _You're not in class, stupid brain!_ "Didn't you say that the power of Light was life? Could that be what he was sensing?"

"Nagisa, look around us. We are surrounded by life. Unless life is somehow extra-concentrated in this bear as opposed to the bushes and trees, I highly doubt that's what it was."

"Well-mipo," Mipple began, "I don't sense anything. Are you sure you sensed something, Mepple-mipo?"

Mepple nodded. "I am sure-mepo! Something was headed towards us!"

Honoka pulled the Queen card out. "The Prism Hopeish probably hasn't grown legs, so it's most likely the power of Dark, and not a bear. Let's go, Nagisa."

"Right!" They spent a minute transforming, ending with Nagisa pointing at a tree. "Return to the Darkness from which you came!"

Honoka put her hand down. "Alright, so …" She stopped, noticing that the baby bear had been joined by a much larger bear.

"Bear! There's a bear! What do we do?" Nagisa panicked.

Honoka's mind went back to a survival manual her grandma had bought her. "Black bear. Is it acting defensively?" Yes, the bear was snorting and swatting the ground, attempting to intimidate them (and succeeding with Nagisa). "If so, slowly and calmly back away. The bear does not want to fight any more than you do." She pulled Nagisa back, slowly moving away until they were out of sight, further around the lake. "And for the record, Nagisa, if it had come to a fight with the mother, we would probably have won."

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't want to attack the mama in the first place! Imagine if we killed her!"

"You can do any action you can think of, and I have telekinesis. We don't have to kill anything. I'm not that heartless."

Nagisa's breaths slowed down. "Well, we still don't have any idea of where the Darkness is."

There were several huge crashes nearby. Honoka shifted to get behind Nagisa. "I have a good guess."

The two were ready for anything. Anything except Gekidrago riding an enormous bear straight at them. They jumped to the side, and the bear kept running, through a boulder and straight up a mountain until it was gone. "I'm beginning to think my assessment of his intelligence is correct," Honoka commented.

"So what do we do?"

"I want you to throw me when he charges again."

"What?"

"Throw me straight at him so I don't have to use telekinesis or try to figure out how to jump perfectly at him."

"Haven't you done it before?"

"I always stumble, or miss, or almost fall over. I prefer moving things with my mind, but I don't want to get too tired. Please just do it."

"Right." Nagisa stepped forwards and grabbed her partner, lifting her above her head. "Hnngh…"

From on top of the cliff, Gekidrago and the bear jumped separately at them. "Sorry, Nagisa, you'll have to take care of the bear."

Nagisa didn't answer. Instead, she threw Honoka as hard as she could at Gekidrago. The blue-haired girl readied herself while Gekidrago reared back to punch her. Right before he hit, Honoka materialized three large steel spikes and flipped herself onto the man's shoulder. Unable to stop his momentum, he hit the ground on top of the spikes.

Meanwhile, the bear landed as well. "ZAKENNA!" it roared, swatting at Nagisa. She fell back, cartwheeling out of the way before jumping forwards and kicking the possessed bear in the face. Mostly unaffected, it swatted her again. She flew back, but landed on her feet. _Thanks for that tidbit, Queen of Knowledge._

Honoka was not too surprised when Gekidrago simply stood up, not impaled. It looked like the spikes had simply been crushed under his weight. _So his skin is harder than diamond and less brittle than steel. Imprisonment by any means is unlikely, at least not for long. He's like the Hulk._ She jumped off his shoulder before he recovered from the impact and ran over to Nagisa. "He's nearly impossible to physically defeat."

"When did you learn to make spikes?"

"Same time you did, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we're out of our league with both the bear and that guy."

"What do we do?"

"Run."

They turned and ran down a path into the woods, Honoka thinking all the while. _Can't keep this up forever. Let's see. A spirit of Dark inside of a body modeled after humans. Skin is impossible to penetrate. Magically, I could hold him down, but I can't keep the bear away too. Separate them if possible. If not, what are the other weaknesses that human bodies have other than cutting flesh? They need to eat (not useful), internal organs can be damaged even if skin is intact (not applicable?), they need to breathe…_ Panting, she spoke to Nagisa. "I have another plan, but let's see if we can separate him from the bear somehow."

"How do we do that?"

They arrived at a gorge with a rickety bridge. "With that." They ran across, hearing Gekidrago's monkey-like grunts getting closer and closer. The moment they reached the other side, Gekidrago took a single step onto the bridge, his weight causing him to fall right through it into the gorge.

The bear, though, simply leapt over the gap and them, roaring as it landed. "Uh, Knowledge Queen? I can't jump that, can you?" Nagisa eyed the gorge behind them and the bear in front of them.

"Irrelevant. We now have the ability to take this bear on."

"Wait, that mark!" Nagisa pointed at the white plus on the bear's forehead. "That was on the mother!"

"You just noticed that?"

"We have to get the Zakenna out of her!"

"The Marble Screw would work, right?"

The bear pounced, and they both leapt forwards, avoiding it. "Would that hurt her, though?"

"It shouldn't. It returns possessed things to their original state."

"I know that, but she isn't a thing! She's a bear! And how are we going to get thirty seconds for it?"

"Use Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy-mipo!"

Honoka looked down at Mipple. "What?! We had other powers of Light?! Why didn't you… mph!" Nagisa had put her hand over Honoka's mouth.

"Never mind that, how do we use it?"

"Hold hands and say Black Pulsar-mepo!"

The bear turned and charged, so Nagisa grabbed Honoka's hand and pulled her out of the way. "Black Pulsar!"

Honoka shivered, feeling compelled to say the next words. "White Pulsar!"

Black and white bands surrounded them, then fused into a sphere of light. _Pulsar: a highly magnetized star that sends precise beams of energy out from it._ "One that is cursed by the Dark power…" Honoka began as the light became more colorful and began spinning.

"We shall now break the chains that bind you!" Nagisa finished.

"Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy!" They both shouted, holding their hands out.

What happened next was the strangest thing Nagisa had ever felt with her powers. Her power of Rainbows flooded into Honoka, and Honoka's flooded into her. It was as if their identities had mixed together somewhat, and Nagisa shuddered at the hideous feeling of Honoka's clockwork mind rubbing against hers. Honoka seemed similarly affected, which didn't make sense to Nagisa. Why would Honoka not like Nagisa's mind?

It lasted far too long, and Nagisa was about to scream, when all of the Rainbows poured out of them into the bear. It shuddered, then shrank and turned back to normal. _Where did the Zakenna go?_ Nagisa thought tiredly.

"What… the hell… was that?" Honoka asked, still shuddering.

"Rainbow therapy-mipo!"

"NO! YOU DO NOT GET TO EXPLAIN THIS LIKE THAT! YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED OR I WILL-" Her tirade was interrupted by Gekidrago bursting up out of the ground in front of them. In her rage, though, she followed through with the plan she made earlier. _All humans need to breathe._ With some concentration and more than a little emotion behind her power, she pulled the air out of Gekidrago's lungs.

The man staggered as if punched, then fell to his knees, grasping his throat and trying in vain to suck in air. Before she could react, though, he activated his true power, the greatest gift of Dark his King had given him, and caused the power of Rainbows she used to go wild. Nagisa watched as the threads of Rainbows in Gekidrago's throat were suddenly everywhere, sucking all of the air out of the area. She quickly took a breath, then grabbed Honoka's hand. "BLACK THUNDEEEEER!"

Honoka's lips moved, but no sound came out. It didn't seem to matter, though, since the lightning still fell into their hands.

Gekidrago was still trying to take air in, but he braced himself as he watched the girls go through the motions. Cure White's lips moved, then Cure Black's, and then they pointed their hands forwards.

Nagisa could hardly think, her body moving for her even though she couldn't breath. The power of Light shot forwards, meeting some resistance, then knocking Gekidrago back into a pile of rock, bringing it all down on him. The moment the last rock came down, the Dark-tainted Rainbow threads vanished, and it was suddenly windy. Not that the girls cared. They both fell down, gasping for air. For a minute, they simply laid there, recovering, before Nagisa spoke.

"Never… do that… again."

"I didn't… try… to do that…"

"I don't… care."

Mepple and Mipple both poofed into their fairy forms. "Honoka-mipo! Are you alright-mipo?"

"Nagisa-mepo? What happened-mepo?"

"You … don't need… to breathe?" Honoka asked.

"You guys… suck." Nagisa complained. She sat up slowly, then was hit in the head by a pink, heart-shaped case. She fell back to the ground. "Ow-ow-ow…"

"The Prism Hopeish-mipo!"

"You found it-mepo!"

"Hey Nagisa, at least… you used your head."

"Bite me."

* * *

Later, when they had recovered, they set the Hopeish on a flat rock. "So what do we do now, Mipple?" Honoka asked.

"Put the Prism Stone in-mipo!"

Honoka pulled out the stone "Just put it in any slot at all?"

"Yes-mipo!"

Honoka placed it into the top right corner, where it flashed briefly. The Hopeish glowed, and then a small man appeared in a puff of smoke. "I am the Stone Guardian who will protect the Prism Stones." He was dressed in Arabic clothes and had seven motes of light floating in a moon shape around his head. "Are you the ones who retrieved this stone?"

Honoka irritatedly responded with sarcasm. "No, because there isn't a stone there. It's all just your imagination."

The Guardian's eyes opened, and he blinked several times. "I'm sorry?"

"Yes we retrieved the stone!"

"…Thank you, children. I will give you a gift for this achievement." He pulled out a romance manga.

Nagisa nearly grabbed it. "Looks cool, I wonder what kind of manga they read in the Garden of Light."

The Guardian fumbled, then put it back. "Not that! These… Pretty Cure Planners." He held out two small notebooks. "Nobody else but the two of you can read what you write in these."

Honoka's hand shot out and snatched hers. "Really? How does that work? Is it blank to everyone else, or what? Can we use it to send messages to each other?"

The Guardian frowned. "I don't know."

Honoka sighed. "Why aren't any of you curious as to how magic works?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, if you knew how it worked, you could do a lot more with it. You could set up all sorts of things like flying vehicles and instant message devices and weapons against the Dark Zone… I mean, this is the first time I've heard that magic can be part of an item. So many more possibilities can happen if you can sustain magic in something other than the Prism Stones."

The Guardian nodded, smiling. "I see! That sounds very interesting. The Hopeish and notebooks are things made by the Queen. But if we could make things like that… yes, I believe I have found a new project." His smile grew wider. "Well then, I have to go, but I leave you with these, too." He gave them two cards. "Please use these if you need to call me. With that, farewell!" He and the Hopeish vanished in another cloud of smoke.

Honoka turned to Mipple. "He wasn't a fairy. What was he?"

"I'm not sure what kind of being he is-mipo. But he sure is handsome, isn't he?"

"Mipple-mepo!"

"What-mipo? It's true-mipo!"

"Mipple, come here-mepo." He grabbed her hand and led her behind some rocks.

Nagisa frowned. "I hope their relationship is alright."

"It would be troublesome to have to work with that."

"I suppose, but it was kinda nice to see love like that."

"…You're right," Honoka conceded. "Ugh. I still need to talk to Mipple about Rainbow Therapy."

"Yes, please, talk to her about that. It was awful."

"What was awful about it for you? I'm not that bad!"

"It was like sticking my head into a machine!"

"At least it wasn't like sticking your head into a fire!"

Nagisa blinked. "Why would being in my head be like a fire?"

"Why would being in my head be like a machine? I'm not a robot."

Nagisa held up her hands. "No, it was just… well… so…" she trailed off, failing to find the words to describe the subtle feelings and thoughts that she had felt then.

Honoka stared into the distance. "If that's what my grandma feels all the time, then I'm giving her a hug when I get back."

"Oh, yeah. I told my mom I'd bring you back to my place to introduce you."

"What, really? Fine. Whatever. Let's get it over with."

* * *

Next to Kappa Yama Hyoutan Pond, the pile of stones sat still until Gekidrago regained consciousness. When he awoke, the boulders flew apart, but the man himself sat still afterwards. For the first time, he had found someone who was actually a threat, and for the first time, he knew fear. Even though his true power was to make the power of Rainbows go wild, it hadn't worked as he'd expected. The White one had not tried to grab him or hold him down. Instead she had stolen his breath. All of his strength had meant nothing in the face of such a threat.

He walked in the vague direction of the apartment that Poisonny had purchased. She would know what to do.

* * *

After meeting and socializing with Nagisa's mom, Honoka had left for her house. Her grandma, of course, knew what had happened, so they had a long hug as she thought her day out. When she finally reached her room, she was free to ask the questions she had wished to ask Mipple. "So…" Her mind recognized what the question she should ask first was. "What's going on with Mepple?"

Mipple frowned. "He was unhappy about what I said about the Guardian-mipo. He was being odd though. He didn't seem mad or anything. He just asked me if I loved him-mipo."

Honoka was taken aback. _How mature…?_ "What did Nagisa tell him? It's only been a day since we decided to fix his bad habits."

Mipple's head tilted to the side. "I don't know-mipo. But he seemed happy when I said yes."

Honoka nodded. She'd ask Nagisa later. Topic one over. Time for topic two. "Second thing: Rainbow Therapy."

"What about it-mipo?"

"What- you seriously don't get it?! It was like Nagisa was _in_ me."

"Yes, that's what it does. It mixes your power of Rainbows and uses it to wipe out the Dark power in someone's mind-mipo."

"And we couldn't use the Marble Screw because? I mean, Rainbow Therapy is ten seconds faster, yeah, but that awful burning…"

"The power of Dark consumes-mipo. If freed, the Zakenna would have taken the bear's life with it. Rainbow Therapy destroys the Dark altogether-mipo."

 _So more powerful, and it works on the living, but it uses our own strength and has the detriment of temporarily fusing our minds (souls?) together._ "And you didn't tell us about it why?"

"Er… We know about two techniques-mipo. The first one is to banish the Darkness. It's easy because all it requires is Light-mipo. But the second, Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy, requires trust-mipo. After watching you, I judged you were ready for it."

 _Trust. A requirement not because of some arbitrary magic limit, but more likely a requirement because two strangers who did that would hurt a lot more than two people who understand each other. And yet even though I thought I knew Nagisa, her mind…_ Honoka reviewed the sensation. Nagisa's mind wasn't what she would have thought it was, running primarily on instincts yet mostly empty. Rather, it was full of flight, constantly experiencing everything at once. It had no "usefulness" filter, as Honoka had developed, and was willing to assess tree moss just as much as evil bears. Instead, to function normally, Nagisa simply paid more attention to what she thought was most important. Nagisa didn't have a problem with not thinking. She had a problem with constantly thinking, unknowingly bombarding her brain with far too much information. It did mean that Nagisa's memories were incredibly good. But it also meant that Nagisa had no room to think in her head, which consequently lead to thinking out loud more than not. No wonder her poor partner did so badly in math. That required thinking far more than just memorization, and you couldn't talk during class.

"I understand, Mipple. And… thank you."

"For what-mipo?"

"It would have been a very bad idea for us to learn this technique earlier." To suddenly have her mind scorched with the constant thinking of Nagisa was almost unbearable. If possible, she'd never do that again.

* * *

 **A/N: Info on bears:**

 **"Bear Encounters in the Backcountry - ." _BearSmartcom_. Get Bear Smart Society, n.d. Web. 07 June 2015.**

 **Bears are not fairy tale animals. They won't be understanding if you bring their cub to them and leave amicably. They will likely be hostile. Don't be BearDumb. Be BearSmart.**

 **All joking aside, I wish that at least one cartoon/anime would show wild animals as they actually are, instead of humanizing them.**

 **One last thing: my hard drive recently decided it would be fun to randomly delete itself, so I've lost most of my progress. Chapter six was difficult to write, and I'll have to rewrite it from vague memory. I apologize for the delay.**


	6. Chapter 6

Nagisa caught the ball with her lacrosse stick, then tossed it to Shiho, who tossed it to Rina. Nagisa smiled as she thought about the upcoming tournament match that afternoon. It would be her first match since becoming a part of Pretty Cure, and she was entirely confident that they would win. Although her attempts at using Rainbow-sensing magic had only made her sick while untransformed, her power to move however she imagined would let her wreak havoc on her opponents. "I suppose that being able to sense where everyone else is would be a bit too unfair, though..." she muttered.

"Nagisa!" Shiho shouted, and Nagisa realized that the ball had been thrown wide. She took three steps, imagined and executed a quick roll, and caught the ball before it ended up halfway down the field.

Captain Yumiko walked up to her, eyebrows raised. "Nagisa, was something that you've been practicing, or did you make that up on the spot?"

"Er... I made it up," she replied sheepishly.

Yumiko frowned. "Don't do that. We don't need our ace breaking her neck doing stupid stuff."

Nagisa shrugged. "I think I'll be okay. It wasn't that dangerous."

"Fine, but if you get hurt I get to say 'I told you so,'" Yumiko said, walking off.

Nagisa walked back to her friends, and Rina spoke up. "So... is the Knowledge Queen coming to the game?"

Nagisa shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she'd want to see how magic affects the game. But I haven't really told her that it was this afternoon, so..."

Shiho sighed. "If only I could have discovered magic cell phone animals to give me superpowers."

Rina smirked. "Yeah, then you could cheat at sports too!"

The three girls giggled and resumed practice.

* * *

Honoka checked the formula again. _So apparently it is correct after all. So why on earth does it seem Wrong to me?_ She lifted a beaker and peered at the liquid within, noticing out of the corner of her eye that someone was to her left. "Did you need something?"

"Er... hi, Honoka."

Honoka looked away from her results. "Mayu?" _She's changed her hair. Is she no longer interested in Nagisa?_

The girl from the art trip nodded. "Could we talk?"

Honoka projected a few conversations, all of which suggested that it was something that her fellow science club members didn't need to hear. She put down the beaker and walked Mayu outside of the lab, making sure the door was shut. "Alright. We can talk."

Mayu wasted no time. "I was wondering if I could join the science club?"

Honoka blinked. This had not been a conversation she had projected. "...Aren't you more interested in art? Like Piccarini?"

Mayu laughed. "No, Piccarini's just... fascinating to me."

 _That's one way to describe an obsession._ "Then why do you want to join the science club?"

"I... well, some of the stuff you talked about before sounded interesting. Not really what you were saying, but how you thought it through. It reminded me of some of the research I did with Piccarini, and it sounds really fun!"

Honoka smiled. "I see." Every time someone wanted to join the science club, she would turn them away if they said anything about chemicals or periodic tables. While they did do some chemistry, science was about learning how to think, not about what to think. Most came in thinking about stereotypical scientists on television. Consequently, the science club had only four members other than Honoka. "Then I believe you came to the right place. Let me write your name down."

Mayu jumped for joy. Honoka only hoped that the girl's enthusiasm would show in her work. _At the very least, with six members, I can apply for a bigger budget._

* * *

Nagisa stretched, pumped for the match. Otagaku Junior High were their biggest rivals, if for no other reason than that whoever won almost always won by a single point. Nagisa grinned as Yumiko stood up to make her pre-game speech. While Nagisa didn't think it was necessary, Yumiko loved pep-talks. "Today we'll win! We'll get one step closer to the finals. Even if it is Otagaku, we will beat them! So defeat them!"

"Yeah!" the team shouted, Nagisa quieter than the rest. She didn't think she could get more excited than she already was.

"I truly hope that will happen," the Vice Principal's high-pitched voice cut in.

"No speaking, Vice Principal! I have already inspired them! Take your awful speeches and get out!" Yumiko shooed him away, the Vice Principal spluttering the entire time. When he was gone, the captain turned back to her team. "We don't need anyone telling us to do well. Let's go."

Nagisa joined Rina and Shiho as they lined up on the field. "Seems like the captain's the only one who can deal with the Vice Principal, as usual."

Rina shrugged. "The Vice Principal thinks lacrosse is important, and she's in charge, so..."

Shiho pointed into the crowd. "Look, it's Honoka!"

Rina turned so fast she almost got whiplash. "What, really? ...Is that Mayu?" She turned towards Nagisa. "Looks like both your girlfriends are here."

Nagisa shook her head. "Stop saying that. I don't think Knowledge Queen likes me, and Mayu said she was giving up on me."

Shiho gasped. "You don't think they're here... together, do you?"

Nagisa snorted. " Knowledge Queen said she wasn't going to do a lesbian relationship. Something about it 'tainting her data' or something."

Rina squinted her eyes. "Strange girl. Hey, who's the cute boy going up to her?"

"Cute boy?" Nagisa looked up again and saw Fujipi sitting down next to Honoka. "Hey, I called dibs already."

Rina snorted. "Looks like Honoka called dibs before you."

"No, they're childhood friends..." _I wonder what he's doing here, though._

* * *

"Honoka! It's nice to see you again," Fujipi said.

Honoka stood up and gave him a hug. "It's been a while."

"Yeah. When you told me about this, I just had to be here. I mean you, watching sports?"

Mayu spoke up. "What's wrong with sports?"

Honoka rolled her eyes. "Nothing's wrong with sports. But being a spectator is an enormous waste of time."

Fujipi elbowed her. "She's just jealous that nobody comes to watch the science club."

Honoka shoved his elbow away. "There is such a thing as a science fair, you know."

"How could I forget? After the disaster in fourth grade, anyways..."

"I told you it was perfectly safe. Except when it was not."

Mayu started giggling. "You two are going to miss the game at this rate."

Fujipi nodded. "Right. But, er, why are you watching the game, Honoka?"

Honoka pointed at Nagisa. "I'm not watching the game. I'm watching her play the game."

Fujipi squinted at the field. "A new friend of yours? Trying to replace me?" he teased.

Honoka smiled. "She's not so much a friend as... a mysterious relationship."

"Oh? With a girl? Wait. Didn't you date me once?"

"What? No. We were eight, Fujipi."

Mayu pointed, bouncing in her seat. "Shh! They're staring!"

All three sat forwards in anticipation, though each were anticipating three different things.

* * *

The whistle blew, and the two captains in the center attempted to get control of the ball. Nagisa ran forwards, easily dodging past the two girls who tried to block her. It was much too easy to do that now. Rina scooped up the ball and tossed it to her. With an efficiency born of supernatural influence, Nagisa threw it across the field at an angle that would have been impossible for most others, directly to Yumiko, who scored.

* * *

"Huh. She is pretty good," Fujipi remarked.

Mayu crossed her arms. "What do you mean, 'pretty good?' That was an amazing shot."

"Yeah, that's what I meant. I just didn't expect it, that's all."

Honoka shrugged. "She's the ace of the team, from what I've heard." _And magic doesn't hurt, either._

* * *

After Verone scored a few times, their opponents had finally realized that Nagisa was the biggest threat on the field. She had just nabbed the ball when she realized that five Otagaku players were running towards her. _Well, time to try something more complicated._

She stopped, slid between the first two players, and then got up and sprang to the side, getting on the inside of the third. Before the other two could react, Nagisa was somersaulting past them, standing up, and running for the goal. She bounced the ball off of the ground and past the goalie, winning another point.

* * *

Fujipi gesticulated wildly. "She's a genius! A sports genius. I've never seen anyone move that way!"

Mayu's mouth was open in awe. "She was never this good. I mean, I know she has," she mouthed the word _magic_ , "but how would that even help her?"

Honoka smirked. If it hadn't been so sudden, if she hadn't learned about the match from Mayu just an hour before it was happening, she would have probably made a few bets. However, just watching how magic screwed with an ordinary situation was well worth the time cost of spectating. It wasn't even obvious that Nagisa was doing something unusual because her magic only pushed her to her physical limits; it didn't go beyond those limits. Honoka wondered if she could also use her magic in front of others and conceal it. "You know, I think I'm enjoying myself," she said to Fujipi's shock.

* * *

Otagaku put up as good of a fight as they could, but it was inevitable that Verone won, 9-2. Nagisa cheered, hugged her teammates and then ran off to see Honoka, who was coming down the bleachers with Fujipi and Mayu. "Good game, Nagisa."

"Thanks! It was almost too easy this time!" she said, avoiding Fujipi's eyes. Unfortunately, Honoka noticed this and promptly made introductions.

"Nagisa, this is my childhood friend, Fujipi. Fujipi, this is Nagisa."

Fujipi smiled and stepped forwards. "It's nice to meet you, Nagisa. You were quite amazing to watch, you know?"

Nagisa laughed awkwardly, trying not to blurt anything stupid. "Thanks. You're, uh, pretty good yourself!"

Fujipi blinked. "Oh? You've seen me play?"

"Ah, that time the ball went through the window-"

"Oh! Yeah, you were that girl that came down! Er, sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"No, it's no problem! I-" she cut off as she saw the other two. Mayu was looking quite gobsmacked, as if a rake had hit her in the face, and Honoka had that weird smile again. Nagisa realized that it was a _knowing_ smile. "Uh yeah, no problem..."

"Hey, I've got a random question to ask. What's your relationship with Honoka?"

Honoka face-palmed. _I shouldn't joke around about that sort of thing. Even around him._

"Uh, well, I'm the class representative, so she helps me out with that."

Fujipi smiled. "Is that all?" He glanced at Honoka for a moment, then turned back to Nagisa. "Alright. Hey, if you want, we can hang out..."

"Right now?" she asked, heart leaping to her throat.

"No, right now I've gotta get home and make dinner for my family. Just... sometime."

"Uh, yeah, sure!"

He smiled and turned around. "Okay, see you later. And I'll see you," he pointed at Honoka, "hopefully more often."

Honoka nodded. "Of course." _If you and Nagisa have any sort of relationship it follows that we'll see each other more often._

After Fujipi walked out, Nagisa turned to Honoka, stars in her eyes. "He can _cook?!_ "

"Yes. His mother owns a restaurant. Is that all you got from that conversation?"

"You like boys?" Mayu interjected.

Nagisa froze. "Um, yes?"

"Since when?"

"Since always?"

Mayu held her hands out. "You could've told me..."

"No I couldn't!" Nagisa protested. "Any time I could have, we were around tons of girls."

Mayu blinked. "Why does that matter?"

"I don't want to hurt their feelings."

"You are quite ridiculous sometimes," Honoka said. "In the long run it'd be better for everyone if you just told them your orientation rather than allowing them to get more and more enamored."

"Well yeah, but it's kind of too late now."

Honoka rubbed her temples. "...In cases of romance, I hope I never think as stupidly as you."

* * *

Gekidrago barely fit inside Poisonny's apartment. She winced as he nearly crushed her television. "Look, all you need to do is what you did before. Have your Zakenna possess something alive, then crush them with brute strength. It sounds like that almost worked, except you fell into a hole."

"They took my air."

"And it nearly killed them. You'll be safe if you just do the same thing, trust me. I just need to find a way that _I_ can survive a vacuum..."

"They are strong."

"I did tell you that, right?"

"They going to kill me, Poi?"

"No, Gekidrago. You are strong and Rainbow-proof. You just need to keep trying. You should be fine."

"...Then I will break them."

"Good. Do that." _One disaster sorted through. If you told me even yesterday that Gekidrago would be afraid for his life, I would have laughed._

* * *

Nagisa smiled as she stood on her room's balcony, gazing at the stars. "He can cook. He's an athlete. He wants to hang out. He... thinks I'm amazing! Should I ask him out? Hm..."

She started as she felt a tap on her back. Whipping around, she found her brother tapping her with her lacrosse stick. "I heard you won!"

"What are you doing in here? Let go of this! Don't touch this!" She pulled it out of his hands.

Ryouta grinned. "I thought when I listened, you'd be talking about all your special lacrosse moves and stuff. But instead, it's about a guy? I thought you were hopeless in romance!"

She whacked him over the head. "Shut up! I'm not hopeless! Don't listen to me talk to myself! Get out of my room!" She herded him out and closed the door. "Why must people..."

"I thought it all went quite well-mepo." Nagisa glared at him, but Mepple kept speaking. "It's so nice to see someone fall in love! If you want, I can give you love advice-mepo," he said, smirking.

"I don't need something like that! Besides, you and Mipple... you two don't seem to be doing too well."

That instantly wiped the smile from his face. "Mepo. I think she spends too much time around Honoka-mepo. Mipple's starting to talk like Honoka and I don't like it at all. And I'm not... I haven't been the best boyfriend-mepo."

Hearing Mepple say this was scary. Almost as scary as a happy, pleasant Honoka would be. "No, well, you've made a few mistakes, but if you're maybe just a little more considerate, I'm sure you'll patch things up in no time!"

"Really-mepo?"

"Really-mepo. I mean really." Though he didn't look too sure, he did look less upset. Hopefully she really had helped. Nagisa stepped back out onto her balcony and made sure the door was shut behind her, so that Mepple couldn't hear her talking to herself.

* * *

Honoka materialized a gun. Gingerly taking it in her hands, she made sure to keep the dangerous end away from her, pointing it at the floor. It then occurred to her that she had a safer way to deal with it. Lifting it with telekinesis, she stepped back, aimed at the floor again, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"Hypothesis proven. I actually need to know how guns work in order to make one that functions. All I've made is a hunk of metal that looks like a gun." She floated it into a drawer. _I need to test to see if I can destroy just as I can create, but I don't want to pass out right now._

"What is a gun-mipo?"

"A dangerous weapon. It uses a small explosion to spit a piece of metal at such a high speed that it can kill someone in an instant."

"Mipo?!"

"Don't worry. I was being careful."

Mipple's eyes only kept widening. "Honoka! Don't do something so dangerous-mipo!"

"I was being careful."

"Still-mipo!"

Honoka smiled. "It's okay. Really. I looked up gun safety beforehand. And I don't pass out nearly as much as I used to, so little chance of an accident."

Mipple trembled slightly. "Okay-mipo... If you're really being careful..."

"I am. Anyways, the point of this was to see if I could make something that I knew about, but didn't know _exactly_ how it worked. It seems I can't. Nagisa can make entire beings with knowledge and memories and all that complicated stuff that comes with the human brain, and I can't make a relatively simple projectile weapon."

"That's just your different powers-mipo!"

"But why is it that way? I get that the way I think has something to do with it, and who I am... But if we're both using the power of Rainbows, why can't I do something that she can? I know it can be done, so why can't I do it? Law of Conservation of Mass I understand... it's not that it couldn't be done, it's that it hadn't been done. But I can't make something unless I know exactly how it works?"

"You're different, so you have different Rainbows. That's all there is-mipo."

"That's only a part of it, I think. I'll keep working on it. Anyways, it's time to go to bed. So let's see..." She rolled onto her bed. _Electricity is simply electrons moving from a place with an abundance of them to a place with almost none. So if I..._ Imagining the feeling of static, she attempted to pull electrons from the ceiling to the air just above her hand. When her hair began to rise, she released her power and watched as a fairly small spark jumped from her hand to the ceiling. _Disappointing..._ she thought as she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Gekidrago growled as the morning sun came up over the buildings, blinding him. Where was the school again? He checked Poisonny's map again, then flipped it around. Or was it upside-down now? He recognized this large building at least...

Rage growing, he stepped into Verone High's lacrosse field, using a lamp post he'd 'borrowed' earlier to knock down a small wooden stand.

"Hey, what did you do that for?!"

Gekidrago looked down to see a small, gray-haired man. "Poi said possess something alive..."

"You're going to pay for that! Do you know how hard the crafts club worked to make that stand? Do you know how much of our club budget it cost us?"

"You'll do."

* * *

Nagisa started as a tremor reverberated through the classroom. Looking out the window, she saw a small dust cloud rise up, then dark clouds gather. She sent an alarmed look to Honoka, who nodded and stood up. "Teacher, I'm not feeling well. May I go to the nurse's office?"

Nagisa stood up as well. "I'll make sure she gets there, and doesn't skip." There was a bit of laughter at the idea of _the Knowledge Queen_ skipping class, but Miss Yoshimi nodded, realizing what was happening.

"Okay. Make sure she's okay, class representative."

"No problem!" she yelled as she and Honoka quickly exited. As soon as they were away from the door, she frowned. "We need a better excuse."

"That's your fault for not improvising well."

"I hope that they don't show up during class often, because I don't know what I'd say to people who ask why we keep leaving."

"I'll think about it. Honestly, I'm not sure we can keep leaving. And any way I can think of to leave with my powers would probably make me too tired to fight." _And people would notice if I went invisible or something._

"And meanwhile, without transforming, I can use my powers a _whole centimeter_ away from someone! Not that I have anything that would help."

Honoka shrugged. "Just keep working on it."

"I wasn't going to stop. Hey, think we can transform here?" They were on the stairs, out of sight of the classrooms.

"...Yes. So long as we get outside by jumping out that window. It'll be faster that way."

After a minute and a half, Nagisa ended up pointing at a particularly bad motivational poster. "…Return to the Darkness from which you came! ...Which would probably be the Vice Principal's brain. Ew."

Honoka snorted. "Let's go."

* * *

The two entered the field to realize that Gekidrago was just sitting on the bleachers, smiling at a purple, gray-haired creature. Honoka winced. "Oh no..."

The Zakenna pulled out an enormous pointer and swung it. "ZAKENNA!"

The girls jumped to either side, ready to fight. They stopped, however, when the thing spoke. "Stop fooling around you two!"

Nagisa blinked. "Vice Principal?"

Honoka ground her teeth. "We're going to have to use Rainbow Therapy, aren't we?"

"I've always worked harder than everyone else! I get to school first and go home last! And yet do you brats appreciate it? No! Who puts away the cleaning supplies? Me! You'd think that'd be easy to remember! Not for some people, apparently!

Nagisa looked at Honoka. "Um, what?"

"We'd just take the cleaning supplies back out anyways. Why should we have to put them away?" Honoka held her hands out.

"...Can't argue with that logic."

"Saying such selfish things!" The possessed man swung his pointer again. "Don't you realize I have feelings too?!"

Nagisa jumped on the end of the pointer. "Don't make me get the captain out here to yell at you!"

"Don't get me started on her!" The Vice Principal knocked her off the pointer and straight into Gekidrago, who grabbed her and started squeezing.

"Damn it," Honoka muttered, as she dodged the pointer again. She created a brick and hurled it at Gekidrago's face.

The man merely grunted and squeezed harder. "Will crush little girl now." Nagisa screamed.

Honoka's mind jumped from possibility to possibility as the Zakenna continued attacking her, forcing her to back even further away from Nagisa. _Can't use Rainbows on him. Nagisa said that he taints the "threads" dark and makes them go everywhere. The majority of my arsenal is shut down just from that, unless I can spontaneously develop a new power right now... Can't use Light on him, because I need Nagisa to do that. Punching him will be ineffective. This guy is a magic tank._

She jumped forwards and past the Vice Principal and nearly fell over as she tried to run to Gekidrago. _First step: ensure that Nagisa isn't crushed._ She sent her power to Nagisa, avoiding Gekidrago's hand in her mind, to apply an outwards force on Nagisa's clothes. That would keep her from getting crushed until she escaped or Honoka passed out. _Second step... um..._

The problem was simple. Having relied on her magic for every battle, and having no skills that could physically injure Gekidrago, how was she supposed to stop him? _Third form of magic? Dark? Can I use that? Would I want to? No, I don't need to use it myself. I only need to..._ As the Vice Principal ran at her, she jumped to the side and used her power to pull him off-balance, sending him careening into Gekidrago. Throwing Nagisa aside, the enormous man stood up and punched the Vice Principal into a wall. Honoka quickly mind-yanked Nagisa towards her. "You alright?"

Nagisa was gasping. "N-no..."

"I need you to help me, okay? I know you're hurt, but we need to get up and get going."

Nagisa blinked and attempted to stand, but sat back down, clutching at her ribs. "I think... he b-broke something."

 _If I try to have her use Rainbow Therapy or even Marble Screw, she could end up hospitalized for trying to yell with a broken rib. Though she's going to end up in a hospital anyways._ She ended up at a loss for what to do. "If we can't do something before those guys remember we're here, we're going to die," she said as she watched the Vice Principal poke Gekidrago's stomach.

Nagisa bit her lip and concentrated. Breathing hurt far too much, and she had to do something about it. When Honoka had been crushed by the possessed curtain, what had she done? She gingerly touched her side and pulsed power into it. Sure enough, three ribs were broken. No organs were damaged, thankfully, but it still hurt like hell. Her power somehow told her that on their own, it'd take at least two months to heal. "I need... two months."

Honoka gave her partner the dirtiest look of incredulity ever. "Okay, sure, we'll just ask them to wait! Really, what should we _actually_ do? I can probably carry you out of here... but then he'd follow us... or attack the school..."

Nagisa blanched. "O...kay..." She frowned. The villains were fighting each other, a prime opportunity to beat them up, and she was sitting there, unable to do anything. Her ribs would drag her down, which was unfortunate. It wasn't that complicated of an injury, but unless she could heal faster Gekidrago would... "Wait... I can move... my body... however I want..."

 _Now's not a time to think out loud!_ "What are you talking about?"

But Nagisa ignored her. "Ribs... grow back... right?" She willed her ribs to move into place, and willed her ribcage to fuse to the snapped pieces. Instantly, it was easier to breathe. For a moment, she simply sat in stunned silence. "I think I just healed myself."

Honoka was simply bewildered. "What?"

Nagisa warily stood up, but felt no pain. "Okay, let's go."

"What?"

"First, let's use Marble Screw on the big guy."

"What?"

"Then... ugh, we'll use Rainbow Therapy on Vice Principal Kyouto."

"Wait..."

"Let's go." She grabbed Honoka's hand. "BLACK THUNDEEEEER!"

Over where the two villains were fighting, Gekidrago had just tossed the Vice Principal into the bleachers. He quickly turned around when Honoka shouted, "WHITE THUNDEEEEER!" Realizing what was happening, he ran across the field towards them.

"Our beautiful souls…" _Oh crap oh crap oh crap-_

Honoka, panicking, said the last line as quickly as she could. "…shallcrushyourevilheart!"

Gekidrago reared back his arm... "Pretty Cure Marble Screeeeeeew!" Gekidrago punched the beam that came out and was lifted off the ground and hurled off into the distance.

Nagisa hesitated, then cheered. "We got him!"

Honoka sighed with relief. "Barely. Now where's the..."

"You two should be ashamed! Hurling people in the air like that! It's things like this that show that I should be the Principal!"

Honoka was having none of it. She used telekinesis to pull the possessed man to the ground. "Nagisa?"

"Black Pulsar!"

"White Pulsar!"

"One that is cursed by the Dark power…"

"We shall now break the chains that bind you!" _Here we go..._

"Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy!"

The sensation was much as Nagisa and Honoka remembered. The sense of flowing into each other, the feeling of one mind on another... It was still unpleasant, but they both realized, simultaneously, that there was something more to it than just pain. Honoka's clockwork mind created a sentence. _I feel... us._

Nagisa's flame-filled mind could not craft something that articulate, and she was confused that Honoka could think actual words. She wondered at that.

Honoka responded, a gear clicking into place. _Your senses and memories take up too much room._

Shocked, Nagisa looked deeper, to try and figure out how the clockwork worked, to see as much of it as she could-

And the two were suddenly paying attention to the world around them again, watching Rainbows stream out of them and into the Vice Principal. He shuddered and shrank, the Zakenna destroyed. Honoka fell over, holding her head. Nagisa walked up to her, stumbling a little. "Um, you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay, because some idiot decided to push fire into my brain rather than respond like a normal person."

"Respond?! How on earth do you respond?! How can you think words?"

"You just think words! Just like you would if you heard them!"

"How does that even make sense?"

"Well, the next time our minds our so tightly bound, I'll show you. SO DON'T TRY TO POUR FIRE INTO EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY OF MY THOUGHTS!"

Nagisa jumped at the sudden yelling. "I was only trying to see how you thought like..."

Growling, Honoka was about to retort when Mipple jumped out. "Honoka-mipo! Nagisa wasn't trying to hurt you that way!"

"She still hurt me!"

"Calm down-mipo! You told me that it's not worth getting angry over ignorance!"

"Hey!" protested Nagisa, somewhat offended.

"Ignorance, you irrational fire-brained moron. It means not knowing things, not being stupid, which you are."

"Honoka!" Mipple crossed her arms sternly.

" _What, Mipple?_ Do you think this power is sunshine and rainbo- oh wait, it's at least one of those things. No, shut up, brain. Don't think like _Nagisa_. Agh! Why am I talking to myself?"

"Honoka?" Mipple asked, less sternly.

"I'm messed up. Stupid Nagisa, stupid costly magic, stupid Pretty Cure-"

Nagisa grabbed her shoulders. "Honoka!"

The blue-haired girl blinked. "You just used my name."

Nagisa nodded. "Honoka, I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was doing, and I hurt you. I'm sorry!"

Honoka couldn't comprehend this for a moment. She realized it was because all of her mental maps were damaged and she had no ability to understand what kind of sentiment came with the apology. She shifted her thoughts around, pulling stray logic back into place, pushing memories into where they belonged, and re-categorizing several out-of-place arguments. She sorted through her emotions and tied them down, where they'd start acting once more in an advisory role and not as a direct cause of her actions. Once she was all done, she took stock and found that nothing had been lost by Nagisa getting too close. _Of course not. Rainbow Therapy doesn't destroy. It just jumbles up everything._

She re-evaluated the last few minutes and quickly realized that Nagisa was still staring at her with sorrowful eyes. Now that she had control of herself again, she realized how unfair she had been. "Apology accepted. I'm sorry for blowing up at you. I didn't feel in control of myself." _That's because I wasn't._

Nagisa let out a breath she had been holding. "It's okay. You had every right to be mad."

 _Anger is used to make people understand what is important. Used too often, it loses its meaning. But used appropriately, it can be used to fix social problems._ "I certainly think so, yes. If there is a next time to this, ask me to come over to you. You don't have to think it in words, just think of the concept. Like how you normally think."

Nagisa nodded. "Okay, are we all better now?"

"Yes," Honoka replied, picking up Mipple. "I'd like to change the subject now."

"Alright," Nagisa said meekly.

"Battle analysis. One, don't jump onto the opponent's weapon."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Two, try to stick together."

"Sure."

"Three, it seems that if we really try, we can push out the words for the Marble Screw faster. Let's see if we can work on that. And also, don't start using it when the enemy isn't that far away."

Nagisa nodded, remembering. "I don't want a close call like that again."

"Okay, that's enough." Honoka yawned. "You should head back to class. I'm going to the nurse's office to sleep."

"The smart and talented Honoka, skipping out on class because she's tired?"

"...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

* * *

Nagisa didn't bother going back to class. After making sure Honoka went to the nurse's, she went back outside to wander around. Filling herself with Rainbows, she took a look at her body, now that she was out of an emergency. Her power told her that there was little excess fat, that her metabolism worked marvelously fast, and that perhaps she could use a little more fruit in her system. She made a face, then realized that she had only used it on her stomach. She shifted her focus upwards, to her heart. It was beating at one and one-fifth beats per second, and it would beat slightly less than two billion more times before she died, it reported.

She stopped using her power in shock. "What kind of sick joke was that?"

"What joke-mepo?"

"I just used my power on my heart, and it told me how long I had to live!"

"How long you had to live until what-mepo?"

"Um, until I die, obviously."

"You're going to die-mepo?!"

Nagisa made a face. "Oh, right. You lived for thousands of years in Perfectland. No, I'm not going to die." Not yet, anyways. Hopefully.

"Oh, good! Don't worry me like that-mepo."

Remembering what she found in Honoka's mind and how the Knowledge Queen had reacted both times they used Rainbow Therapy, Nagisa put her hands to her head. She hesitated, then sent her power into her brain.

She gasped as a cacophony of sounds, lights, and feelings made themselves known, and immediately stopped using her power. Despite that, she somehow felt as the cacophony hadn't gone away. No, it was still there, she just hadn't been aware of it before. "So that's what she meant by senses and memories taking up too much room..."

"Hey, skipping class?" Nagisa jumped and turned around, finding Fujipi. She realized that she had walked over to the boy's soccer field.

"Hahaha, yeah, I just had to... think. What about you?"

"Eh, I finished the assignment early, so I decided to get some fresh air."

"What? Are you that smart?"

Fujipi shook his head. "Nah, I'm just good at schoolwork. Half the time I don't even know what I'm writing down, but it always turns out to be correct."

"That is an amazing power."

"I'd trade it for yours."

"Eh?" Did he know about-

"Your skill on the field. I could use a good sports scholarship."

"Oh, that." Some of it was talent, most of it was skill, and the rest was Pretty Cure powers. Somehow, Nagisa didn't think Fujipi would wear a dress just to be better at sports. She giggled at the image of Fujipi in her black outfit.

"What's so funny?"

She smiled at him. "I'll tell you later sometime. So... how long have you known Honoka?"

"We met in kindergarten. She was always alone, so I tried to cheer her up. Then she threw mud on me."

Nagisa laughed. "That doesn't sound like her."

"She's changed a bit. How did you meet her?"

The memory popped in immediately and clearly. "My friend was talking about shooting stars, and Honoka shows up out of nowhere to tell us that shooting stars don't grant wishes."

"That definitely sounds like her. Even in kindergarten, she was always obsessed over being right."

"Yeah..." Nagisa wished she hadn't started this topic. Although Honoka was a good connection between them, she'd rather get to know Fujipi better. "So you're her best friend? No offense or anything, but why are you friends with her?"

Fujipi leaned on a nearby lamp post. "No offense taken. I understand where you're coming from. I guess you could say... I admire her. She has a lot of drive and is very sure of herself. I've never been either of those things."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'm good at school, but I'm not learning anything. I'm good at soccer, but nowhere near the best. My mom and dad are great, but I don't really want to do what they're doing. I have no idea what I want to do in life, and I don't even really know who I am yet."

Nagisa winced. That's what she felt quite often. "I feel like that too."

Fujipi's eyes widened. "Even with lacrosse?"

Nagisa shrugged. "It's fun, and I'm good at it, and my friends are there, but those are the only reasons I'm doing it. I'm not... trying to do get anywhere with it. I'm mostly just letting life take me wherever."

Fujipi nodded. "That's exactly it. Going with the flow."

They both sighed. After a few seconds, Fujipi spoke up. "Tell you what. Let's keep working on what we want to be, and helping each other find out. Sound like a plan?"

Nagisa snorted. "The plan is to come up with a plan?"

"Well, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound very smart." They both smiled at each other, then burst out laughing.

"But then, we're not very smart, are we?"

* * *

 **A/N: Nagisa doesn't think in words. She thinks the entire concept all at once. Any time you see her thoughts in italics, it's in words just so that you understand what she's thinking.**

 **Honoka... is simply not allowed to shoot lightning bolts at people.**


End file.
